


The Hero of Metro City

by kenshi_vakarian7



Category: Final Fight (Video Game), Street Fighter
Genre: Action/Adventure, Drama, F/M, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-28
Updated: 2017-05-28
Packaged: 2018-11-06 02:20:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 22
Words: 37,269
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11026560
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kenshi_vakarian7/pseuds/kenshi_vakarian7
Summary: A Guy & Rena love story taking place around Christmas time.Another take on 'Final Fight' with a little bit of 'Final Fighter II' added in.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This story was written on ff.net from November 20, 2002 to July 2, 2003. With that in mind, it's important to note the following before diving into the story;
> 
> -I did write this prior to the existence of Kyle Travers. A random OC was in the story before I decided to change it while editing the story back in 2011.
> 
> -I am FULLY aware that Guy is NOT related to the EX characters, Kairi, Hokuto, and Nanase. When I first wrote this, I made the dumb mistake of listening to a word-of-mouth from a fan and went with it (though it's since been confirmed that Hokuto's father was part of the Bushinryu clan, though that doesn't necessarily mean she and Guy are related). However, I really enjoyed writing out the interactions between Guy and the three siblings. So despite facts and canon, I've decided to keep the siblings idea.
> 
> -This also needs to be noted due to some ignorant reviews in the past from those who don't know Rena. No, she is NOT an OC, but an actual character character you rescue in Final Fight II who happens to be Maki's sister and Guy's fiance (though whether that's still canon afterwards is up in the air).
> 
> -So yeah, creative liberties have been taken in order to make this story happen. One example is Rena and Maki not ending up as part of the Bushin Clan.
> 
> With all that out of the way, enjoy the story!

The cold wind blew around the buildings of Metro City. The snow slowly fell down into the busy streets in light flakes. Pedestrians and drivers all around tried to make it through rush hour despite the cold, harsh weather.

Amongst the crowd, a young woman stopped and looked up at the skyscrapers on top of the buildings. She had just moved into the city only a couple of days ago and was now trying to memorize every detail of the city. She wanted to make it feel more like home to her.

She soon began to walk down the crowded street, wrapping her arms around herself in order to keep warm. She wore a brown, knee-length jacket over a black shirt, black leather gloves on her small hands, blue jeans, and black knee-high boots. She also wore a black wool hat over her head, her long black hair swaying in different directions.

She walked down a few more blocks before she saw a small store filled with Christmas supplies. She smiled at the sight of the decorations inside.

_'Well, maybe I should buy a few things for the apartment,'_ she thought. _'After all, Christmas is only five weeks away.'_

She entered the store, a small bell on top of the door ringing above her head as she stepped inside. Only a couple of other people were looking around the store. She gazed at the small trees on the high shelves. Some were two feet high, and some were only a foot. Some were already decorated with bright lights and various ornaments, and some were left with nothing.

After looking around for some time, the young woman found the perfect one, one of the non-decorated, two feet ones. She managed to get it off the shelf safely despite her small height.

She then looked around at the different ornaments. She saw a set of glass angels and decided to add them to the little tree. Then, she tried to find the perfect angel for the top of her tree, but couldn't find one that was just right. She sighed with disappointment and went up to the register counter, deciding to search for one later.

"How do you do, miss?" the man behind the counter asked her cheerfully.

The woman smiled. "Fine, thank you," she replied with her warm, Japanese accent.

As the man typed in the prices in his cash register, he said to the woman, "Pretty cold out today, isn't?"

The woman nodded. "Yes, it's quite cold. I'll be heading home after this."

The man also nodded with a smile. "That's a good idea. It's best to stay indoors as much as possible for the rest of the day. I heard the weather is only going to get worse." He then looked at the register after ringing up everything. "That will be twenty dollars and ninety-six cents."

The woman nodded again and gave the man the exact change.

"Thank you," the man said. "You have a nice day now."

"Thank you, you too," the woman replied. She took her bags and walked out back into the cold weather, the bell ringing once again. She looked up at the sky, realizing that it was starting to get dark. She decided to heed the cashier's words and headed home now. She also was aware of how dangerous the city can be when the sun was not out. The young woman looked at the nearest street sign and sighed. She had another twenty-minute walk.

When she was only two blocks away from home, the young woman decided to stop at a café she remembered seeing earlier in the day. Her long walk had left her freezing, and she was now in the mood for some hot cappuccino.

She walked inside to café and waited on the long line. She looked at her watch. 6:19.

Ten minutes later, she was the next customer to be served. She ordered her hot, vanilla cappuccino. After paying for it and receiving it, she sat down next to the window. On the small table was a newspaper. She didn't get a chance to read the paper this morning and decided to take the opportunity to do so.

What she wasn't aware of, however, was that just across the street, three men were watching her from a bar.

"Look over there," the first man said pointing to the café across the street. "Ain't she the fox?"

The men smiled in agreement as they stared at the woman. She drank out of a small cup and read the newspaper.

"Hey Walter," the second man said to the first man. "How about we go, well, 'talk' to her when she's done with her coffee?"

Walter rubbed his chin after drinking some of his beer out his mug. Then, an evil, sadistic grin spread across his face. "Not a bad idea, Roy. We'll go talk to her all right." He looked at the third man. "What do you think, Mike?"

Mike grinned, showing off his yellow teeth with some missing. "That's a great idea."

A few minutes later, they noticed the woman walking out. She threw out her small cup into a trash can and then made her way down the street.

"Let's go," said Roy. The three men walked out of the bar and began to follow her.

The woman decided to take a short cut through the alley since her apartment was on the other side. She had taken this shortcut once before, but it was a lot lighter during the day and she had been with her younger sister at the time. She felt a bit uneasy being alone and the area a bit darker, but she knew that walking through here wouldn't take long.

Suddenly, the woman could hear footsteps following her. Her brown eyes widening, she turned around and soon noticed three men behind her.

"Hey baby," one of them said. "Why don't you come over here and make me happy."

The woman gasped and broke into a sprint.

"Where are you going?" one of the men asked. They ran after her. Unfortunately, her heels couldn't bring her to run fast enough so the men were able to catch up to her. One of them grabbed her by the waist and threw her against the brick wall, the crash causing her to scream. All three men leaned against her and one of them held a pocketknife at her neck. She managed to scream once more before one man covered her mouth.

"Now let's have some fun," the man said pressing the knife into her neck.

Not too far from the alleyway, a young man was walking down the street after a long day at a nearby dojo. He wore a leather jacket over a white sweatshirt, blue jeans, and white tennis shoes.

The man yawned and fixed up his dark hair, which fell in front of his face. _'All I want to do is get home and go to sleep,'_ he thought.

The man did love going to the dojo. There, he was known as the Bushin Ninja, always working on his skills. On this particular day, he was sparring with a friend and his friend managed to knock the wind out of him pretty good when he kneed his stomach. It made him pretty tired for the rest of the day.

He looked up into the dark sky as the light snow fell down slowly towards the Earth. _'Hard to believe Christmas is in five weeks,'_ he found himself thinking. _'Other than my siblings, Cody, Kyle, Jessica, and Mr. Haggar, I won't be sharing it with anyone special.'_ He shrugged at the thought a little. _'Oh well.'_

That's when he heard a loud shriek coming from one of the allies. The man looked straight ahead and narrowed his eyes. He ran as fast as lightning until he looked into one alley and saw four people in it. He ran closer to them and saw three men holding a knife at a young woman's neck.

"What do you think you're doing?" he shouted, getting their attention.

Two of the three men turned to him. "We're just having some fun," he said. "Is that a crime?"

The man narrowed his eyes again, realizing that the three criminals had on their minds. "I'll give you fun!" Then, the young warrior leapt in the air, jumped off the brick walls a couple of times before landing a few kicks at one of the men's heads.

"Mike, Walter, fight this guy off, I'll take the girl somewhere," the man said.

The young man kicked the knife off Roy's hand. "Not on your life." He threw a few punches at Roy and finished him off by elbowing him in the chest. The man fell back in pain. The woman rolled over away from the scene.

Then, the young man turned to the other two men. He ran towards them and quickly took both of their heads and smacked them together. He managed to knock one out, but not the other.

The young man did a somersault kick and hit the man under his chin. He fell back into one of the garbage cans and was soon unconscious.

The young man looked around, still in his fighting stance. All three men were now out cold. Normally, he would call the police, but he had the feeling that nothing would be done, knowing how corrupted the cops had been in this city lately…

After that thought, the young man turned to the woman, who was curled up into a ball on the ground and was quietly shedding tears. He slowly walked up to her and kneeled down beside her. "Miss, are you all right?" he asked with concern.

The woman looked up at the man. She slowly nodded before the young man helped her back up on her feet.

"I'll be fine," the woman said, still feeling shaken. He looked into his dark eyes. "You saved my life... thank you."

The young man nodded with a smirk. They walked out of the alley together. Once they got out of the alley and the young man felt that the area was safe for the woman, he began to walk down the street.

"Wait!" the woman cried out. "I didn't get to know your name."

Then a crowd of people walked in front of her. When it cleared out, the young man was gone.

_'Who was he?'_ she asked herself.


	2. Chapter 2

"Rena, you're home!" said a young blond-haired woman as she heard a door open. Rena entered her apartment and took her brown jacket off, taking a deep breath after the evening she endured.

The other woman, her younger sister, came to the door before looking at her with wide eyes. "Your hair's a mess, what happened to you?"

Rena looked at her, almost exhausted. "Maki, you're not going to believe what happened to me tonight."

Rena sat down on the couch and took her boots off. Her little sister followed. Rena told her the story; from the moment she left the café to the moment the 'nameless' hero saved her life.

"A nameless hero, huh?" Maki said after Rena finished her story. A grin came over her face. "Was he cute?"

Rena laughed a little. "So after my near-death experience, all you can ask is that whether he's cute or not?"

Maki giggled a little. "Sorry, that was the first thing that came to mind." She then hugged her. "But really, I'm glad you're okay and that you're safe."

"Thank you. And to answer your question… yeah, he was, but he seemed like the very serious type. I don't think he even smirked once, at least not that I can recall. Well, maybe he did, but I was in too much shocked to notice. All I know is that he was cute and, well… serious."

Rena pictured the young man's face in her head. She remembered his short, dark brown hair, the strands over his narrow face, and his dark, narrow eyes. 'Who was he?' she thought with a small sigh.

"Sounds like Spider-Man," said Maki. "You know what he is… he's a hero, the kind who you don't know too much about him, like his name and where he comes from. Unfortunately, he might always remain a mystery to you." Maki then stood up. "By the way, you came home just in time. Dinner is almost ready."

"What are we having?" Rena asked.

Maki smiled. "Beef lo mein."

"Maki! We had that last night!"

"I know, but we might as well have leftovers while we have it."

Rena growled under her breath. She had hoped to have something fresh and new for dinner, but then she realized, budget-wise, it was for the best…

After dinner was finished, Rena decided to rest in her room for the night. It was a small room with a futon bed, a desk, and two dressers. The walls were filled with photos from Japan, posters of a few bands she liked, and a single ceiling lantern hanging in the middle of the room.

Rena laid back on her bed and looked up at the cream colored ceiling. The man who saved her life appeared in her mind once more. She realized that it was going to be quite a while before she would be able to get him out of her head.

 _'If only I knew who he was,'_ she thought. _'I got a chance to thank him at least, but not to get to know him or even asked him for his name. Tomorrow, when I look for a job, I hope that, by luck, I would find him.'_

The sun set for the evening and the streets of Metro City were now dark with only street lamps as the source of light. The heavy clouds above covered the moon, and the snow still kept falling to the ground lightly.

\---

A young man just entered his apartment. He was somewhat surprised to see his best friend sitting on his couch as though he was waiting for him.

The friend turned to him up hearing him enter. "Hey, Guy," he said. "You're home."

"Cody?" Guy said hanging up his jacket. "What are you doing here and how did you get in?"

Cody showed him a paper clip, which was bent out of shape. "I came over because some of us back at the dojo were pretty worried about you."

"Really?" Guy asked, a bit surprised.

"Hey Guy!" said a couple of voices. He turned around and saw ten people behind him; Cody's girlfriend Jessica, his brother Kyle, Guy's sisters Hokuto and Nanase, and the rest were friends from the dojo.

"We figured," Cody continued. "That this little party will help you relax for a while."

Guy growled under his breath. He wanted to relax but not like this, especially since he hated any type of parties and social events. Then, he just sighed and gave in.

"So Guy," said Hokuto later on. She was fixing her hair as she said, "How was your walk? We expected you to come home before we got here."

Guy straightened himself up on the couch. "Well, something did happen on my way back here."

"Really?" cried Nanase. "Like a fight?"

Guy nodded.

"What kind of fight?" said Kyle as he lightly slapped him on the back. "Did you kick their ass?"

"Of course," Guy replied. "As a matter of fact, I even saved a girl."

Now everyone was leaning towards Guy and wanted to listen to the whole story. Guy sighed and, knowing he wasn't going to get out of this, told everyone the story from the moment he left the dojo, to the moment he decided that it was safe to leave the girl.

"You mean you just left her there?" cried Jessica as she folded her arms in a huff. "If Cody did that to me, I would go up to him and kick his sorry mother-..."

Cody immediately covered her mouth. "You know I would never do that to you." He kissed her forehead.

"Well, we all know Guy," said Kyle. "That little Mr. Anti-Social friend of ours."

Guy sighed narrowing his eyes at Kyle.

"See what I mean?" Kyle said grinning.

Guy stood up. "I'm going to my room. I need to rest for a while." He walked into his room.

"Oh c'mon Guy!" cried Cody. "It's a party over here. The beers' are on me!"

Guy waved his hand at Cody and walked into his room.

Hokuto laughed. "You know my big brother, always trying to find every way to avoid social events."

Cody took a drink out of a bottle of Heineken. "Yeah… I guess you're right."

Guy started to feel a bit drowsy as he went into his room and fell on to his bed. He could hear his friends chatting and laughing. Then, someone, probably Cody or Kyle, turned on the CD player.

 _'Great,'_ Guy thought. He took a pillow and covered his face with it, muffling the sounds a little. Then, he began thinking about the woman he saved tonight.

_'I'll never admit it to anyone, but now I wished I stayed with her until she got to her apartment. I should've stayed to at least learn her name. I could be such an idiot sometimes. I wonder who she is. Maybe tomorrow, if I'm lucky, I'll find her again.'_


	3. Chapter 3

Throughout the week, both Guy and Rena searched for one another each time they would go on the streets of Metro City. Sometimes, they would think they had found them, but it turned out to be only someone else. One week after Guy saved Rena from the muggers, they still hadn't found each other.

About four weeks before Christmas, Rena was walking down the street heading towards her first day at her job at a restaurant called Ming's. She was going to be a waitress. She was a bit nervous about her first day even though she was already given some sort of training through papers.

She found the restaurant and looked at the exterior of the building. The restaurant was decorated with Christmas lights with the window covered with holiday stickers. In the inside of the restaurant, Rena could see a six foot tall Christmas tree decorated with colorful ornaments and an angel on the top.

Rena soon entered the restaurant. A tall, chubby man was waiting for her. "Hello, Rena."

Rena smiled. "Hi Mr. Hsu." Mr. Hsu was the one who had interviewed her a few days ago.

Mr. Hsu returned the smiled. "You'll be working alongside one of your co-workers today."

A young girl dressed in the restaurant's black pants and white button-downed blouse uniform came up to them. "Is this her?" she asks with a friendly smile.

Mr. Hsu looked at her. "Yes this is Rena. Rena, this is your trainer, Nanase."

Nanase nodded to the young woman. "Hi, how are you doing?"

"I'm fine, thank you," Rena replied.

The three of them went into the back. Mr. Hsu gave Rena her uniform and a name tag. "What you're going to be doing today is watch over exactly what Nanase does. Tomorrow, she'll observe you, and then the next time after that, you're on your own."

Rena nodded and headed towards the changing room. After getting dressed, she walked out of the changing room and towards the door that separated the restaurant from the back room. Nanase was waiting for her.

"Ready for training?" she asked her.

Rena nodded. "I'm ready."

"All right, I'm about to go over to table number 15 and I'm going to ask them what kind of drinks they want. I'm also serving table number 3, 8, and 24. Altogether, there are thirty tables in the restaurant and you serve a certain amount of tables depending on how many waitresses and waiters are on shift."

Throughout Rena's shift, she followed Nanase around and listened to every word she and the customers said. Rena also had to learn how to abbreviate orders so she could write things down faster. Sometimes, Nanase would laugh with the customers, and sometimes it looked as though she wanted to curse out at the customers because of their petty complaints.

Rena and Nanase's shifts ended at the same time. As the outside world began to get dark, Rena and Nanase got ready to leave.

"So," said Nanase. "How do you like it here so far?"

"It seems nice," Rena replied. "I haven't done anything by myself yet."

"That's cool." Nanase looked out the window. "I'm waiting for my brother Kairi to pick me up. My oldest brother Guy was supposed to pick me up, but he said he was going to stay at his job later. He's a trainer at this dojo a few blocks down from here."

When Nanase mentioned Guy, Rena started to see something in Nanase, like some sort of resemblance to the man who saved her life a few weeks ago. Then again, it was probably her imagination.

Nanase noticed the blank expression on her face. "What's wrong, Rena?" she asked.

Rena shook her head, feeling silly for even thinking about it. "Oh, it's nothing."

Then, a tall man with long black hair tied back appeared. Rena immediately noticed that he was blind in his right eye, which also contained a long scar going across the lid.

Nanase looked at him. "Hello, Kairi."

Kairi nodded. "Are you ready to go?"

"Yup." Nanase looks at Rena. "Nice meeting you, I'll see you tomorrow."

"Bye," Rena replied. Nanase and Kairi walked out of the restaurant. Rena zips up her heavy black jacket and soon left as well.

\---

After all the students left for the day, Guy, Cody, and Kyle found themselves relaxing at the dojo.

Kyle drank a bottle of water. "Today was decent," he said. "But it could've been better."

"Why?" asked Cody with an evil grin as he stared at his brother. "Is it because Michelle wasn't here today."

Kyle gave Cody an annoyed look. "What are you talking about?"

"Admit it, Kyle," Cody said. "You have a thing for Michelle."

"No I don't!"

"Look at you, you're blushing!"

"That's it!" Kyle jumped on top of Cody and started punching him.

"Hey!" Cody cried out. He started punching him back.

"Guys, come on!" called out Guy. He went up to them and separated the two but pulling Cody back by the shirt. "That's enough."

"Guy, you know how annoying my older brother is," said Kyle.

"Hey!" Cody yelled out as he got out of Guy's grip. "I'm not that annoying."

"Yes you are!" Kyle cried. They then proceeded to start punching each other again.

Guy jumped in between them this time. "I said enough!"

"Come one Guy," said Cody. "You know that I was only teasing Kyle."

After gathering their breaths, the three of them sat back down on the side benches. There was only a few minutes of silence before Cody suddenly jumped up as a thought came to him. "Guess what?"

Kyle looked at him. "What? You're annoying?"

"No!" Cody growled. He then smiled. "There's only four weeks left until Christmas!"

"Oh yeah, it is," said Kyle as though the thought suddenly came to him as well.

Suddenly out of nowhere, Cody starts singing, 'Let It Snow,' and tried to sing just the way Dean Martin did.

"Oh lord no!" cried Kyle covering his ears. "Make him stop!"

This time, it was Guy who clocked Cody in the face, sending him flying off the bench. He then folded his arms. "Please don't try to imitate Dean Martin," Guy said.

Kyle grinned. "I told you he's annoying."

That's when they heard the doors open. The three of them turned around and saw Nanase and Kairi coming in.

"Hey, look who's here!" called out Cody as he got up from the floor. "It's two more of the Hinato siblings."

"Hey Cody," said Kairi. He then turned to Guy. "Did Hokuto get here yet?"

"Not yet," replied Guy. "She should be here in fifteen minutes though. It's kind of a long walk from her job." He looked at Nanase. "How was work?"

"Pretty good," Nanase replied. "I trained someone today, she's really nice. She just moved here a couple of weeks ago from Japan."

"Japan?" asked Kyle. "Sweet!"

"No Kyle, you're not going to hit on another Japanese girl like you do with Michelle," Cody said.

"Shut up, man!" Kyle shouted. Everyone laughed.

Guy started to think then. _'Could it be that Nanase trained the girl I saved last week?'_ He almost laughed out loud, but managed to keep it to himself. _'Nah, it could've been anyone she trained. What the hell was I thinking?'_

Kairi walked up to him. "How about we spar for a little bit, big brother?"

Guy stood up. "All right. Loser buys dinner?"

"Fine by me," Kairi replied. They walked into the middle of the mats that were laid out in the dojo.

Just before he began sparring, Guy thought about the girl he saved once more. _'This city is too big. I doubt that I'll ever see her again.'_


	4. Chapter 4

The next day, Rena entered Ming's Restaurant for another day at work. Nanase was waiting for her by the front door inside the building.

"It's good to see you again," said Nanase cheerfully. "Are you ready to deal with all the customers today?"

Rena nodded. "It has to happen sooner or later."

Rena and Nanase walked towards the back door. They passed by the chefs, who were cooking lunches for the customers waiting in the dining room, making their way towards the dressing room. They both dressed into their uniforms and pinned their name tags on their shirts. Once they were ready, they walked out and looked at the table listings.

"You're serving tables three, nine, fifteen, and twenty-four today," said Nanase. "I'll be observing you today."

Then, Mr. Hsu came over and stopped once he noticed the two women. "Hello, ladies," he greeted. He gave Nanase a clipboard with a survey sheet on it. "This sheet here is for taking notes on Rena's performance today."

"Yes, sir," Nanase replied.

Then, one of the hostesses came into the back. "Is the server for table fifteen ready?"

Mr. Hsu pointed to Rena. "Yes, she is ready."

The hostess looked at Rena. "It's a five member family. Are you ready?"

Rena nodded. "I'm ready."

Rena took a deep breath before walking out of the back and to the dining room. The restaurant wasn't all that crowded today, most likely because today was a Thursday, and it was only the beginning of lunchtime.

Rena went up to the table filled with five people. They seemed to be an ordinary couple with three young children, a boy and two girls. Rena smiled once she reached them. "Hello, how is everyone today?" she asked cheerfully.

The father looked up at her. "We're pretty good, and you?"

"I'm fine, thank you. My name is Rena, I'm going to be your waitress for the day. What kind of drinks would you all like to have to start with?"

As Rena talked to the customers and took down their orders, Nanase answered the questionnaires on her sheet. By mid-afternoon, they were all positive notes, and she knew Mr. Hsu would be pleased with the results.

At one point, Mr. Hsu stopped Nanase. "How is she doing, Ms. Hinato?"

Nanase smiled. "Rena's doing great so far. I'd say she's going to be one of your employees of the month one day."

"Then that must be very good sign," Mr. Hsu said. "You can go on with your work now."

Nanase nodded and continued on.

\---

A few blocks away, the local dojo closed for the day. Guy, Cody, and Kyle were there as usual, giving themselves a well-deserved rested. Kairi, Hokuto, and Jessica were also there as well.

Kyle sighed. "Today could've been better."

Cody grinned almost sadistically. "That's because Michelle's not-"

"Cody!" shouted Guy. "Don't start that again!"

"Maybe Michelle ran away because she didn't want to see Kyle's ugly face again," said Hokuto.

Kyle looked at her and gasped. "Hokuto! How could you say that?"

"Don't worry, Kyle," said Jessica. "We love you!" She then proceeded to squeeze him hard enough to cut Kyle's oxygen short.

"Cody!" the younger man cried out, almost sounding raspy. "Please get her off me!"

Cody kissed Jessica on the forehead. Jessica pulled away in reply and drew Cody closer to her. Kyle managed to get his oxygen back as Cody and Jessica started to make out.

"Stop that!" cried Kairi. "That's disgusting!"

Cody and Jessica stopped kissing. "Oh fine!" cried Jessica as she straightened herself up.

"Say, I have an idea," said Hokuto. "Let's go to Ming's and pay Nanase a surprise visit. Maybe we'll even sit at her assigned table this time."

"And we'll meet that girl she told us about," said Kyle as he grinned.

"You wish," replied Kairi.

"So," said Hokuto. "Anyone who wants to go to Ming's and bother the youngest Hinato sibling say, I!"

"I!" everyone cried except Guy, who simply raised his hand.

\---

"Hi, table for six please," said Cody to the hostess as he and his friends entered the restaurant.

"And make sure we get a table where Nanase could serve us," said Kairi with a grin.

The hostess looked at the six friends in a strange way before saying, "Nanase is training someone today, but there is one available table where her trainee will be serving."

"Great," said Hokuto. "We'll sit there."

The round table they sat at was right next to the window and the Christmas tree. The Christmas tree, however, ended up being too close and started to poke Kyle's back. Each time he pushed it away, it seemed to return to its original position and continued to poke him.

"So, what shall we have tonight?" asked Cody as he browsed through the menu. The group looked over their menus and read through all the Chinese and Japanese cuisines that was offered in the establishment.

Nanase spotted her friends and siblings across the restaurant when she was helping Rena at another table. _'Oh great, not this again,'_ she thought with a small sigh. It wasn't that she didn't want them here… they just always seemed to appear at the wrong time.

Nanase walked over to them. "What are you guys doing here?" she asked.

Kairi smiled. "We figured that we could bother you just for one day."

Nanase sighed. "There's been more than one day, you know. Fine, but make sure Mr. Hsu doesn't find a reason to kick you out like last time." She looked back at Rena, then back to the table. "You guys want to meet my trainee?"

"Sure!" cried Kyle as he pushed the Christmas tree out of the way. The needles ended up hitting his head again. "Owe."

Nanase laughed as she turned around and walked over to Rena. "Hey, I have a few people to introduce to you."

"Really?" Rena asked, surprised to hear this.

Before Rena could say anything else, Nanase took her by the hand and pulled her over to the table where her friends and siblings were. Guy's back was turned to her so she couldn't see his face right away.

Nanase pointed to everyone as she introduced them. "This is my annoying friend Cody, his girlfriend Jessica, my sister Hokuto, you've already met Kairi, Cody's younger brother Kyle, and my other brother Guy. Everyone, this is my trainee, Rena."

Guy turned around to get a better look at Rena.

Both of their eyes met, and they immediately gasped as they recognized each other. They both felt their hearts pound in their ribcage as they looked into each other's eyes. The event of last week played in their heads.

_'This was the man who saved my life last week!' Rena thought in her head._

_'This was the girl I saved last week,' Guy thought in his head._

"Rena!" Rena suddenly heard, her thoughts broken through. She blinked twice before turning around to look at Mr. Hsu. "I need to talk to you," he said.

"Yes sir," Rena said. She looked at Guy one more time before walking away. _'I can't believe it… I never thought I would ever see him again!'_


	5. Chapter 5

"Rena," Mr. Hsu said. "I want to let you know that you've done a great job today. I'm very impressed with how fast you're learning. Something tells me that you will be a great addition to our restaurant."

Rena smiled at her boss's kind words. "Thank you, Mr. Hsu. I'm happy to hear that."

"Another thing," Mr. Hsu added. "There aren't that many customers today and we have a lot of people on shift. Would you like to go home early?"

Rena looked back at the table filled with six people. One of them happened to be the man who saved her life only a week ago. She felt her heart pound more.

 _'Guy,'_ she thought. _'I've finally found him.'_

She turned back to Mr. Hsu as she made her decision. "Sure. I'll see you on my next shift." She walked back into the dressing room. She then sat down and dug her fingers into her hair, suddenly feeling nervous. _'Wow,'_ she thought again. She felt her heart beat more rapidly. _'Guy. The man who saved my life is here! And he's related to Nanase. I thought there was some sort of resemblance to the two of them yesterday.'_

That's when Nanase came into the room. "Did Mr. Hsu let you out early, too?"

Rena nodded.

Nanase sat next to her. "Hey, I have an idea. How about we join my friends and siblings at the table? Another employee will serve us."

Rena didn't really listen to her. She was still thinking about Guy, who was only on the other side of the restaurant. She could now feel the butterflies in her stomach. _'Why am I so nervous to go up to him?'_ she thought.

Nanase saw the expression on Rena's face and became a bit worried. "You look freaked out. What's wrong?"

Rena looked at Nanase. Could she tell her what happened last week?

Rena sighed and looked straight into Nanase's dark eyes. "Did your brother happen to save someone's life last week?"

Nanase smiled. "Don't forget, I have two, older brothers."

Rena laughed nervously. "Oh yeah, I almost forgot… the one with the short hair. Guy."

"Guy, my anti-social brother," Nanase giggled.

"He's anti-social?"

"He tries to be, but we always drag him to social events. Last week though, he was stressed out and we tried to throw him a stress-free party, but he just said, 'I'm going to bed,' and left, and yes, he did save someone's life last week... that same day, as a matter of fact. Why?"

Rena looked down for a minute, taking a deep breath. Then, she looked back up at Nanase. "I'm the girl he saved last week."

Nanase's mouth dropped open, shocked to hear that. "You're her>! Oh my goodness! I can't believe you're her! Forgive my brother for leaving you like that. That is the kind of person he is around strangers. He'll be a hero, but then walk away."

"Now that you told me that he's anti-social, I… somewhat understand now," Rena replied.

Nanase stood up and grinned. "So, let's go! Let's go to the front and we can all hang out, the eight of us."

"Nanase, I-" Rena only managed to say before Nanase took her hand and pulled her towards the front of the restaurant.

\---

"You mean Nanase's trainee is the girl you saved?!" asked Kyle as he looked at Guy in shock. Guy had just told his friends and siblings about Rena.

"Her name is Rena, not 'trainee,'" corrected Jessica.

Kyle, who was now holding on to the branches of the tree, stared at Jessica. "I knew that."

"Then say it," Jessica replied fluffing her long blond hair with her hand.

Kyle sighed. "Rena. Are you happy now?"

Jessica grinned. "Very."

Their wonton soups were served by a new waitress. Everyone immediately dug in and ate their soup at their own pace. Kyle was slurping the soup and still trying to push the tree needles away.

Cody noticed this. "Dude, why don't you like, move away from the tree or something?"

"I like where I'm sitting," Kyle replied. "It's the stupid tree that should move."

Then, Nanase and Rena came over to the table while carrying their own chairs to sit in. "Mind if we squeeze in?" Nanase asked.

"Sure," said Hokuto. Nanase sat between Guy and Cody and Rena sat between Guy and Kyle. Now Kyle was being poked by the tree even more.

Rena felt her hands shaking as she looked at Guy, who looks back at her as well. After a very long silence between them, Rena managed to finally speak. "I… don't remember if I said anything, but… I never got to say thank you for your heroic effort. You left before I said anything."

"You're welcome," Guy replied. "Sorry I left you behind the way I did."

"It's all right, it's not like you left me alone in the alley. Walking me back to the main streets made up for it."

Guy nodded and put his hand out. "My name is Guy. I know my sister introduced us already, but I figured that maybe I should do it personally."

Rena smiled warmly and shook his hand. "I'm Rena. It's nice to meet you, again."

Guy smirked a little. "So you moved here from Japan?"

"Yes, I moved here with my little sister, Maki."

"I'm from Japan, too. I came here first, and then my sisters came when our brother was missing for a while. After we found him, he came here with us. We all live in separate apartments, but in the same buildings. I met everyone else here at my job in the dojo."

"Wow," said Rena. "So, all of you here are really close?"

Guy nodded. "Say, I have an idea. Why don't you come back to the dojo with us? We usually hang there after we close the dojo for the day."

Rena smiled a little. They were only talking for a few minutes, but already, he was inviting her to hang out. She was flattered to know that he wanted to hang out with her already.

"I'd like that," Rena replied nodding. "I better call my sister to let her know that I'll be home late."

Suddenly, they heard a loud crash, making Rena jump. She looked down on the ground and saw that the Christmas tree was no longer standing. It was now laying on its side. Most of the ornaments that were hanging on the tree had shattered upon impact.

While Guy and Rena were talking, Kyle finally had enough with the tree and pushed it, but ended up pushing it more than he wanted.

"Oh my God, Kyle!" Nanase cried out in horror. "You're going to get me fired one day!"

"Dude," cried Cody. "I told you to like move or something!"

Then, Mr. Hsu came by after hearing the crash.

"He did it!" cried Cody pointing at his brother.

Kyle growled as Mr. Hsu started yelling at him. "It took us a long time to get that tree up! Now you're going to have to pay for the new ornaments!"

Kyle growled again.

Cody laughed. "See? This is what happens when you don't listen to me."

Kyle gave Cody an annoyed look. "That's it, Cody! It's you and me when we get back to the dojo! Travers versus Travers!"

Cody gave him a devilish grin as he cracked his knuckles. "You're on!""

Guy looked at Rena. "Things will be interesting now."

Rena smiled. Indeed it will be, but not just about the challenge between Cody and Kyle, but to also finally get to know more about the man who saved her life.


	6. Chapter 6

After getting back to the dojo, everyone watched as Cody and Kyle got ready to spar. Both positioned themselves into their fighting stances.

Cody smirked. "Just remember, Kyle, I've had more training than you have."

Kyle narrowed his eyes at Cody. "Just because I'm younger means nothing. The more experience, the better I'll be."

"Okay you two," said Hokuto. "Can we just get this over with? I'm tired and so are the rest of us."

"Fine," said Kyle, clutching his fist.

Rena watched as the two brothers slowly got closer to each other. Then, Kyle jumped in the air and aimed his foot at Cody. Cody blocked the move. Kyle landed on the ground with both of his feet.

Guy looked at Rena. "This should go fast. Kyle still needs training himself. Their parents died when they were still teens and Cody has been trying to teach him everything he knows about fighting."

Rena looked into his eyes and nodded, feeling a little sad to hear that.

Kyle threw a series of punches at his older brother. Cody was able to block every one of them easily. Suddenly, Cody grabbed a hold of Kyle's forearm and flipped him over. Kyle landed hard on the ground on his back. Cody got back into his fighting stance as Kyle got himself back up.

As Kyle ran back towards his older brother, Cody lightly jumped in the air and performed at roundhouse kick at Kyle's stomach. The younger of the two tried to block the move, but unfortunately, he didn't block fast enough. The blow hit him hard, knocking the wind out of him. Then, Cody hit his jaw with an uppercut. Kyle flew in the air and landed hard on his side.

Cody sighed as he cracked his knuckles. "Little brother, you need more training. Your blocks are weak and you need to learn to react more." He walked over to Kyle and put his hand out. "We'll work on it tomorrow."

Kyle nodded. He took his brother's hand and pulled himself up from the ground, getting back on his feet.

"That's it?" cried Nanase.

"Yeah!" cried Kairi. "We need more action than that!"

Guy suddenly stood up. "I'll take it from here."

Cody grinned and got back into his fighting stance. "Great! A real challenge… no offense Kyle."

Kyle waved a hand. "None taken."

Guy turned to Rena. "Watch the Bushin warrior achieve his victory."

Rena could only smile as Guy walked towards Cody. He then positioned himself into his fighting stance.

"All right," said Jessica. "Make this one quick." She looked at Guy. "If you hurt my baby, I'm going to have to hurt you myself."

"Don't worry, cupcake," Cody said. "I'll be all right."

The two best friends stared at each other, both narrowing their eyes. Then, they ran towards each other, ready for battle.

Guy elbowed Cody, but the blond quickly blocked the move. Then, Cody managed to throw a roundhouse kick, but Guy blocked that move as well. Cody started throwing a series of punches. Guy would either block them or dodge out of the way, mostly ducking underneath the fists.

Cody soon jumped back a little. As he did, Guy jumped in the air and flipped himself over Cody. Guy landed back on the ground and quickly performed a high kick at Cody's face. Cody blocked the move with his hands. Then, Guy began throwing series of punches at him, forcing Cody to block every one of them.

"Come on Guy!" cried Nanase. "Get him!"

"Open a can of whoop-ass on him!" cried Kairi.

"You can do it Cody!" cried Jessica.

Guy continued throwing punches at Cody, the latter continued to block them. Then, Guy jumped back once more. After landing on the ground with his feet, Guy quickly threw his whole body at Cody and elbowed him. Cody didn't see it coming and was struck in the chest.

"Cody!" cried Jessica.

Cody jumped back, rubbing the part of his chest that got hit. "Damn it Guy! I hate it when you do that."

Guy smirked and jumped in the air. He put out one leg and spun himself rapidly. " _Bushin Senpukyaku!_ " Guy cried out. Cody was hit in the face a few times before flying backwards, crashing into the ground after falling over. Guy landed on the ground with both feet gracefully.

Rena watched the fight with amazement. When Guy performed his _Bushin Senpukyaku_ , her mouth immediately dropped open. _'So this is part of the Bushin he mentioned,'_ she thought to herself.

Guy ran over to Cody, grabbed his shirt, and throws him across the dojo, making him crash front first this time.

"Owe!" cried Cody. He then slowly got himself up. "You win."

Guy folded his arms in front of him. "That was too easy for me. I think it's _you_ who needs the training."

Everyone except Rena laughed. Rena was still sitting there amazed by Guy's Bushin moves.

"All right," said Kairi. "Let's go home now. It's getting late."

Everyone packed their stuff up. Guy walked over to Rena. "Would you like me to walk you home?"

Rena looked into his dark eyes. "Sure," she replied without hesitating.

Cody, who heard what Guy had said to Rena, walked up to him with Jessica in his arms. "Well, we'll see you two later." He winked at Guy.

Guy narrows his eyes in reply, realizing what Cody was thinking.

"Rena, come here for a second," they heard Nanase say.

Rena smiled at everyone. "I'll be back," she said. She walked over to Nanase.

Jessica went into a whisper as she leaned towards Guy. "You'll be with her soon, if you know what I mean." She smiled as she giggled showing off her perfect teeth.

Guy narrowed his eyes more, his suspicions correct.

Cody laughed a little and lightly punched Guy's arm. "We're just playing with you, buddy. We'll see you tomorrow."

Guy opened his eyes more and lightly punched Cody's arm. "Catch you later."

"Bye Guy," Jessica said. The young couple made their way out the door.

Hokuto and Kairi walked over to Guy. "We'll see you tomorrow, big brother," said Kairi.

"See you later," said Guy. Hokuto and Kairi walk out the door.

Then, Kyle and Nanase walked over to him. Guy looked at his youngest sister. "You're walking home with him in this city?"

Kyle threw a punch at Guy, who immediately blocked it. Kyle grinned at Guy. "We'll see you tomorrow."

"Bye," Guy said. Kyle and Nanase soon walked out the door.

Now it was just Guy and Rena alone at the dojo.

Rena looked at Guy. "So, those are the Bushin arts you performed?"

Guy looked into Rena's dark eyes. "Yes. I learned the style back when I used to live in Japan."

Rena nodded. Guy took out some a set keys chained to each other. "Well, let's go."

They walked out of the building. Guy locked the dojo up and then mads sure that the door was locked and secured. Then, the two of them made their way down the streets of Metro City.

On their way to Rena's apartment, they tried to keep up as much conversation as possible.

"Where exactly in Japan did you live?" asked Guy.

"Tokyo. How about you?"

"Near Osaka. It was all right there, but I like it here better. I've been living here for the last few years with my brother and sisters. I'm the oldest out of the four of us."

Rena smiled. "I'm the oldest too, but I only have one younger sibling."

"Your sister, Maki, right?"

Rena nodded.

"Maybe you can come back to the dojo tomorrow and bring Maki with you. I have a feeling the others would like to meet her."

"That sounds great. I'll have to ask her then when I get home."

They walk passed a few more streets until they saw a café. It was the same café Rena went to before Guy saved her from her attackers last week.

Guy looked at her. "Do you want to get something to drink?"

Rena smiled. "Sure."

They walked towards the café. Guy opened the door for Rena. Rena walked in. 'Such a gentleman for someone who is supposedly anti-social,' she thought.

The café wasn't as busy as the last time Rena was here. Within five minutes, Guy and Rena received their hot drinks and sa down by one of the window tables.

"So how did you figure I was in trouble last week?" Rena asked Guy. "I mean, I was in a part of an alley which no one can see anything."

"I heard you cry for help," Guy replied.

Rena felt her face burn with embarrassment. She forgot that she cried for help.

"It's okay," Guy replied noticing the redness on Rena's cheeks. "Sometimes when things like that happen, we usually forget the minor details."

Rena nodded in agreement. "That's very true." She took a sip of her coffee before proceeding. "So, do you own the dojo?"

"Sort of," Guy replied. "I'm actually a co-owner. There's another dojo in the west coast that my business partner and I own. He mainly runs the operation there while I stick around here."

"I see," Rena said.

"What made you and your sister decide to move out here?"

"Mainly, we wanted to experience a new life since our father died last year," Rena mentioned. "Also it's because Maki was given a job recommendation by a friend of our father who knows her boss. She decided to take the opportunity. She's making more money now than she did back in Tokyo."

Guy nodded. "I see."

Before they knew it, they finished their drinks and soon made their way out the door of the café. From there, they began walking towards Rena's apartment building.

For the rest of the way, the two were silent, unsure of what else to say to each other. Either way, they were both enjoying each other's company. Talking wasn't necessary at that moment.

Soon enough, they made it to Rena's apartment building. They went inside and headed towards the elevator. Rena pressed the up button. When the elevator doors opened, they walk in.

"What floor?" Guy asked acting like an elevator operator.

Rena laughed a little. "Floor ten."

Guy pushed the button with the number ten on it. The two were silent as the elevator went up. Soon, the doors opened, and Guy and Rena step out of the elevator.

They walked a few doors down before stopping in front of the one leading to Rena's apartment.

"I'm so happy that we finally met," Rena said as she turned to face him. "It's a good thing I got that job or else we may have never had the chance to see each other again."

"Yeah," Guy said. "It's a good thing Nanase works there or else I would've never seen you again either."

Rena laughed a little. Then, Guy looks into her eyes. "Do you want to meet for dinner on Friday night?"

Rena felt her heart flutter as she heard this. She smiled. "Sure."

It was only Wednesday, but now Rena wished that it were already Friday.

Guy smirked when he received her answer.

"So," Rena said. "Do you know how to get out of here?"

"Yeah," Guy replied. "I'll just take the Subway back to my apartment."

"All right," Rena said. She sighed. "Good night, Guy."

"Good night, Rena."

Rena opened the door to her apartment. She looked at Guy one more time before closing the door.

Guy sighed as well and soon started making his way towards the elevator. He pressed the down button. As the elevator moved downward, he couldn't stop thinking about Rena. He knew that he would see her again tomorrow, believing that Nanase would bring her over to the dojo after their shifts were over. However, he found himself wishing that this was now the minute that the two would see each other again.


	7. Chapter 7

The next day after work, Rena and Nanase walked outside the restaurant. Waiting for them was Rena's younger sister, Maki.

Rena smiled once she noticed her and walked up to the blond-haired woman. "Glad you can make it."

"Yeah," Maki replied. "I need to make new friends anyways. You should see the people at my job."

Rena laughed a little. She then remembered how she got her sister to starting meeting her new friends yesterday…

"Hey Rena, you're home a little late tonight," Maki said as her older sister walked in through the door. "Did they make you stay later at the restaurant?"

Rena took off her coat and hung it on the hanger by the door. "No, they actually wanted me to go home early. Since the holidays are starting up, the restaurant has been a bit empty, since families want to eat at home more. Also, I imagine they're shopping more too."

Maki nodded. "Then why did you come home late?"

Rena sat down on the black sofa in the living room. "Well, there's a girl who works there, her name is Nanase." She smiled nervously. "Well, she has a few close friends and a few siblings...and..." she began to fumble with her fingers. Just thinking about Guy brought butterflies to her stomach.

Maki saw her sister's hands. "Um, should I be worried?"

"No, no," Rena laughed. "Well, Nanase has two brothers, both older than her, and the oldest one...um, his name is Guy."

Maki smiled. "Oh boy! Do you have a crush on some guy named, well, Guy?"

Rena shook her head quickly. She could feel her face burning. "No Maki. But Guy... he... he's the one who saved me last week."

Maki's mouth dropped open. "You mean you found the man who saved your life in this BIG city?"

Rena nodded.

Maki jumped up and down with excitement. "I can't believe you two found each other! Metro City has so many people, who knew that you could find the same person again!"

Rena stood up. "And not only did I meet him, he just walked me home."

Maki stopped jumping and put her hands on her hips. "And you don't introduce me to him?!"

"I didn't feel that it was the right time to invite him in."

Maki sat down then. "So what is he like?"

Rena put a finger on her chin thoughtfully. "Surprisingly, he's pretty shy. He discipline is something called Bushin."

Maki smiles. "The Bushin Arts, I know a few things about that from a friend who taught me a few fighting moves. If I remember, it's a form of ninjitsu."

Rena nodded. Her sister has taken martial arts in the past and had a vast knowledge of different kinds of fighting styles.

Maki's smile soon turned devilish. "Shy, huh. He didn't sound shy when he saved your life."

Rena raised an eyebrow. "I think when someone attacks you, people forget who they are and try to save you."

Maki nodded. "I know… I'm just saying."

Then, Rena remembered something she promised Guy she would do. "Hey Maki, what are you doing tomorrow?"

Maki shrugged. "Well, I'm off from work so I'll probably end up being bored. What do you have in mind?"

"That's great timing. I was wondering if you wanted to meet me at my job tomorrow after I get out. Then you could come with me to meet everyone, including Guy. They usually hang out at this dojo where Guy works."

Maki smiled. "That would be great! Plus, I do need new friends you know!"

Rena then yawned. "I think I'll go to bed now." She started walking towards her bedroom. "See you in the morning little sister."

"Good night big sister."

As the thought left her, Rena pointed at Nanase. "Maki, this is my co-worker Nanase. Nanase, this is my sister Maki."

The two girls smiled. "Hi," they both said at the same time.

"Shall we get down to the dojo?" asked Maki.

"You bet," Nanase replied. "It's only two blocks down from here. My brothers, sister, and our other friends will be there waiting for us, I'm sure of that."

The three girls began walking down the streets of Metro City. As they did, Rena noticed the snowflakes beginning to fall down towards the ground from the sky. She put her hand out and let the snow fall onto her black leather gloves. She looked at the shape of each flake as best she could despite their small size.

Before she knew it, they arrived at the dojo. At this point, Rena had forgotten all about the snow.

"Oh great, what is Kyle up to now?" Nanase said out loud. The three girls walked into the dojo. They noticed Kyle trying to set up a fake Christmas tree near the back of the training area.

Nanase, remembering what he did to the tree back at the restaurant, huffed and placed her hands on her hips. "KYLE!"

Kyle jumped up and dropped one piece of the tree. "Nanase! Don't scare me like that!"

Nanase stomped over to him. "Who brought that tree?"

Kyle gave her an innocent smile. "I did. Aren't I just the most thoughtful person?"

Nanase face made it look like that she was ready to attack Kyle. "What about the ornaments that you broke back at the restaurant?"

"Don't worry, I took care of that already! Except, I forgot the ornaments for that tree back at my apartment."

 _'Moron…'_ Nanase thought as she looked down at the set of ornaments by his feet that she knew was for this particular tree.

Kyle then noticed Maki. "Whoa! Who is that?" He face made it look like as though he just saw someone like a supermodel walk into the room.

Nanase grew even more mad, her face now turning red. "Yes Kyle, before you say an more, that 'babe' has a name!"

Kule smiled, deciding to tease her. "Wow, I was just about to say that! You sure can read my mind."

Nanase growled and starts walking towards Rena and Maki.

"Nanase!" Kyle cried out. "I was kidding!"

Maki noticed the look on Nanase's face as she returned. "Who was that you were talking to?"

"His name is Mr. Idiot," she replied. "Let me introduce you to 'normal' people."

"We're back!" cried a voice from behind. The three girls turned around and see Cody and Jessica walking back in with shopping bags in their hands and their bodies very close to each other.

Nanase sighed. "Well, almost normal. Maki, this is Cody and Jessica, also known as the Siamese twins."

Cody put the bags down on the ground. "Hi Maki, you must be Rena's sister."

Maki nodded. "Yes. It's nice to meet you."

"Come on Cody!" Jessica shrieked. "Let's go over to Kyle and show him the ornaments we got."

"Okay sugarplum," Cody replied. They walked over to where Kyle was.

Nanase looked at the sisters and sighed again. "The only normal people you'll meet are my three siblings. Hokuto and Kairi should be back here any minute and..." she turned to the back. "Kyle! Where's Guy?"

Kyle looked up and scratched his head. "Umm, let's see..."

Nanase growled. "Never mind!" She turned back to Rena and Maki. "How about you two rest for a while."

The girls nodded and walked over to the side of the dojo. They sat down on the wooden benches.

"I'm beat!" Rena said. "My feet hurt."

"At least you're getting exercise at work," Maki replied.

That's when the doors opened. Rena nearly jumped up to her feet. Kairi and Hokuto walked in with their work clothes on. Just behind them was Guy. Rena felt her heart skip a few beats in her chest.

She shook her head. _'What the hell is wrong with me?'_

Nanase ran up to her siblings. "You guys got here right on time! Rena's sister is here."

They walked over to the benches where the sisters sat. "You must be Maki," said Kairi.

Maki smiled. "Yup, I'm Maki, it's nice to meet you, eh..."

"Kairi."

Maki quickly looked over at Guy. "If you're Kairi, then you must be Guy!"

Guy smirked a little and nodded to her.

Maki smiled. "Thank you for saving my sister."

"It was my pleasure."

"And I'm Hokuto."

Maki turned to Hokuto and smiled. "Hi."

"Come on!" cried Jessica. "Do you guys want to decorate the tree?"

Every turned to where Cody, Jessica, and Kyle were. "Since when did we get a tree?" asked Hokuto.

"Since today," Cody replied. He started taking out the ornaments from the bags.

Everyone became wide-eyed at the ornaments. "Cody, how many boxes did you buy?" asked Kairi. "There are enough of them for five trees."

"Well in that case," Cody replied. "I'll get four more trees."

Kairi rolled his eye. "I was exaggerating."

"Besides," added Nanase. "We can use some of these ornaments for the tree back at my workplace… considering, you know…"

Kyle sighed. "Fine then, you can take some of them back to the restaurant."

Nanase smiled. "Thank you."

Everyone began to take the ornaments out of the boxes and started to decorate the tree with them. The tree was soon filled up with different colors with ornaments, tinsel, and lights. By the end of the decorating, they used up half the ornaments Cody and Jessica brought.

"Something's missing," said Hokuto as she stared at the tree up and down.

"I know!" said Maki, pointing at the top. "It still needs a star or an angel for the top."

"Did you get one Cody?" Nanase asked.

Cody's face started turning red. "Ummmm..."

Nanase sighed. "Great…"

The whole time they decorated, the TV was on. A show just ended and was playing the rolling credits. Then, the news came on immediately after.

The female news reporter spoke. "Good evening and thank you for joining us here on Metro News Ten. The top story tonight involves the growing criminal organization, Mad Gear. Mayor Mike Haggar announced today that Mad Gear's strength is growing rapidly and their power may even overcome the authorities and politicians. Haggar promised that he will not let Mad Gear take control of Metro City and will do everything to stop them. In other news-"

Kairi walked up to the TV and turned it off. He then turned back to his friends, particularly Rena and Maki. "Welcome to Metro City. I don't know if you girls are aware, but Metro City is the main capital of organized crimes."

Rena and Maki both swallowed hard. "Who are they?" asked Maki.

"They're a criminal organization who want to rule Metro City," replied Hokuto. "They're also involved with illegal things as well, mainly drug trades and forcing businesses to be protected as long as they provide money to them."

"Don't worry," said Jessica. "My Daddy is the mayor and he'll stop Mad Gear."

Guy looked at Rena, who also turned to him. The two look into each other's eyes as Rena's heart started to feel a bit dim from thinking about the Mad Gear threat.

Guy walked closer to her. "Is Sunday good for training in martial arts?"

Rena smirked. "Yes, especially since now that I've heard about Mad Gear."

Guy took her hand into his. "Just be careful. Any member of Mad Gear could strike at any minute."

Rena smiled not only because of Guy's words, but the fact that her hand was holding his.

"I promise I'll be careful."


	8. Chapter 8

As the sun outside went down for the evening, Rena looked at her reflection in the bathroom mirror. Already, she was wearing the outfit she had chosen to wear for her date with Guy tonight; a blue jeans jacket over a white turtle neck sweater, and an ankle length black skirt. On the left side of her skirt is a slit that went up to her knees.

She was applying her make-up on when Maki came into the bathroom. Maki was still wearing her work suit. "I hate my job!" Maki complained, almost growling.

Rena looked at her little sister through the mirror. "Maki, I'm pretty sure it's not bad being a secretary."

Maki growled again. "I do so much paper work with barely any time to finish them. I don't get why my boss doesn't do any of them. All he does is sit by the computer and play pinball or solitaire."

"I'm pretty sure that he was on his break," the older sister guessed.

"Rena, NO ONE sits in their office during their break." That's when Maki noticed Rena's outfit. She was already aware that her sister was going on a date with Guy, but she didn't think that she would look classy.

"Rena, you look so pretty," Maki said sincerely.

"Thanks," Rena replied.

"You know, it's been a while since you've gone out with any men. I'm so glad to see that you are doing that again."

Rena sighed as she applied strawberry flavored lip-gloss on to her lips. She remembered how men would act like great gentlemen when she first met them. Then, when she got close to them, they end up acting like the biggest jerks in the world. She hoped that Guy would be very different from all the others.

Rena placed her lip-gloss down on the sink counter. "I really do hope Guy is not like all those other jerks I've met in the past. Hopefully, he's the one."

Maki smiled. "I hope so, too."

\---

In his apartment, Guy was all ready to pick Rena up from her place. He was wearing a green and gray strip shirt under a black leather jacket, khaki jeans, and white tennis shoes. In the bathroom, he briefly checked on his hair through the mirror before stepping out.

Then he heard the door knock. Guy sighed and went over to the door. He peeked through the peek hole, wondering who was here.

 _'Damn!'_ He thought as he only saw a brown smear. _'I need to get that peek hole cleaned.'_

He opened the door. Standing there were the Travers brothers, Cody and Kyle, both with goofy grins on their faces. Kyle was holding a white bag in his left hand.

Guy sighed. _'Now I_ really _do need that peek hole cleaned.'_

"Hey Guy," said Cody. "We came over here because we figured that you needed help with getting ready to see Rena."

"I'm fine," Guy said.

Cody sniffed. "I don't smell any cologne."

"Cody, you know that I'm-"

"Guy," Kyle cut in. "We know that you need some good stuff for your date, so Jessica brought some cologne for us." He started taking out the various bottles of cologne. "We got Tommy Boy, Calvin Klein, Ralph Lauren, and my personal favorite, Romance for Men." He sniffed the bottle.

"But-"

Kyle pointed the Romance bottle at Guy. "Here, let me spray this one on you."

"Kyle, no!"

Unfortunately, Kyle sprayed the contents on Guy's chest, the contents piercing it through his shirt. Guy jumped up as he felt the cold liquid on his chest. "NO!"

"You don't like it?" Kyle asked. "Let me put on Ralph Lauren."

Guy growled and smacked Kyle upside the head.

"OW! What was that for?"

"Have you forgotten that I'm _allergic_ to cologne?!"

Cody's mouth dropped open. "I thought it was Kairi who was allergic to cologne."

"Wrong brother!" Guy cried in anger. "Now I'm going to be itching like hell, and it had to happen when I have a date with a girl."

Kyle and Cody immediately got down on their knees and pulled down on Guy's shirt. "Forgive us!" Cody cried. "We'll do anything!"

Guy sighed feeling his anger go away a little. "I know you guys were trying to help, but do me a favor and please don't try to help me unless we're in a complicated situation."

The two got up. "Okay," Kyle replied.

Guy looked at his watch. "I better get going or else I'll miss the subway."

"All right buddy," Kyle said. "Have fun."

"But don't have too much fun," Cody said with a wink.

"Ha, ha" Guy replied sarcastically. "I'll see you two bone heads later." He walked out of his apartment. "And don't hang around my apartment!"

Cody and Kyle immediately sprinted out of the apartment and ran passed Guy. Guy looked back at his apartment, seeing the door wide opened.

 _'Morons,'_ Guy thought. He went up to the door, closed it, and then locked it with his key. Then he made his way towards the elevator.

Guy walked quietly down the streets of Metro City after getting off the subway. He looked around the city and saw all kinds of different people by the way they dressed, looked, and even acted. He could smell steel and debris where there was construction going on nearby. Guy paced himself slowly, trying his best not to slip on the slippery sidewalks and streets the weather had previously left behind.

When he was a few buildings away from Rena's place, he saw a small Portuguese man sitting by a few bins filled with roses of different colors. The roses caught Guy's eyes. He stopped to take a look at them. He noticed that one of the red roses was more bloomed than the others. He turned and saw the price of the roses. Guy then took the rose and paid for it to the Portuguese man who wrapped it in a clear foil decorated with Christmas trees. The man thanked Guy, who nodded to him before making his way towards Rena's apartment.

Later, as Rena put on her black knee-high boots, she heard the door knock. 'He's here!' she thought with excitement. She slowly walked over to the door and peeked through the peek hole. Indeed it was Guy standing by the door. He was looking around the hallway and slightly shifted his body from side to side.

Rena smiled and unlocked the door. Guy heard the door open and turned his head. He starts to feel his palms sweat as he stared at Rena, noting how beautiful she looked. He clutched on to the rose, which he hid behind his back.

"Hi Guy," Rena said.

"Hey Rena," Guy replied, smirking a little bit. "Are you ready to go?"

Rena smiled, showing off her perfect teeth. "Yup, I've been ready since you asked me to go to dinner with you."

"So have I," Guy admitted.

Rena turned to Maki, who is sitting on the couch watching a documentary on TV. "I'll see you later Maki."

"Have fun!" Maki called out. Rena stepped out of the apartment and locked the door.

Guy quietly took a deep breath and gave the rose to Rena. "I saw this on my way over here, and it made me think about you."

Rena smiled as she took the rose. "That's so sweet of you. Thank you."

"You're welcome," Guy replied. "So, what restaurant do you have in mind?"

"Guy, I've only been living here a few weeks," Rena replied. "The only restaurant I know about is the one I work at, but tonight, I think I prefer something other than Asian food."

"All right," Guy said. "Then I know just the place."

\---

"Howard's Steakhouse?" Rena asked. "Sounds like a good place to go."

"It's one of my favorite restaurants. My friends and I always come here whenever we're in a mood for steak. They don't just have steak here, of course. They also have the best chicken cordon bleu in Metro City."

"Then let's eat here," Rena said.

As they walked into the restaurant, Guy started feeling tingly. Not in his stomach, but his collar-bone.

 _'Damn!'_ Guy thought. _'The cologne's taking effect.'_ He quickly scratched his collar bone while Rena wasn't looking.

They meet up with the hostess who soon led them to their table. The table was near the back corner of the restaurant. It was a square-shaped table with a fake rose in a small vase and a lit candle in the middle of the table. The table was also covered with a white cloth. The restaurant's lights were dim, setting a romantic mood. Guy pulled the chair back for Rena. As she sat down, he brought the chair forward so she would actually sit in the chair instead of falling flat on the floor. Then Guy sat himself down across from her. Once they were settled, the hostess gave them the menus.

"Your waitress will be with you in a moment," the hostess said before leaving.

Guy and Rena looked through the menus. Rena spotted the chicken cordon bleu in the menu Guy mentioned about. After looking through the rest of the menu, she decided to order the chicken cordon bleu.

As Guy looked through the menu, he started to feel even more itchy in the chest. He tried to ignore it, but after a while, he gave up and started scratching it.

Soon, a waitress came and took their orders. After she took the menus away, Rena looked at Guy. She could smell the cologne on him. "I love that cologne you have on. What kind is it?"

Guy swallowed. He was hoping that she wouldn't smell the nice scent of the cologne, but unfortunately for him, she could. "Um, it's called Romance for Men. It's not one of my favorites, to be honest."

After saying that, Guy wanted to smack himself upside the head for that. _'Damn! Now I'm lying to her.'_ He scratched yet another itch.

"So," Guy said deciding to change the subject. "How was work today?"

"A little boring," Rena replied. "But at least your sister was there. She's almost the only person I talk to. I mean, everyone is really nice, but she's the only one I seem to connect with compared to everyone else."

Guy nodded at the comment. "Yeah, back at the dojo, Cody is the only other employee I talk to as well. Aside from Kyle, I do talk to my students of course, but there isn't a real bond, you know what I mean?"

Rena nodded before she found herself looking into his dark eyes. Their color reminded her of a dark chocolate candy. She also noticed that he has yet to dart his eyes downward.

 _'He's not even taking a quick peek below my neck,'_ Rena thought. _'This is very unusual for any men, at least to me.'_ She then continued to looking into his eyes.

Guy stared at Rena's face and sometimes looked into her own dark eyes. The dimness of the room made her more beautiful, making Guy's heart threaten to explode. _'She's beautiful like that,'_ he thought.

Rena then realized that she has to do something about the silence. She smiled. "So, um, what did you do today before coming to my apartment?"

Guy replied, "Just slept until the afternoon, then I got ready to see you. Basically, you can say that I slept most of the day. I don't work at the dojo on Friday's."

Rena nodded. "You know, I should give myself Friday's off, too. It's just seems like one of those days when you don't want to work, I suppose."

Guy nodded in agreement. "I suppose so."

They mostly talk about work while they were waiting for their food to arrive. When the food finally showed up, Guy smirked, "Ready to try the best chicken cordon bleu in Metro City?"

Rena nodded. "I'm ready."

She cut a couple of pieces of her food, then took a bit of one piece with her fork. After chewing it and swallowing it, Rena smiled. "That's delicious."

Guy smirked more. "I'm glad you like it."

Then, the itching got worse, making him scratch again. Noticing this, Rena raised an eyebrow. "I've noticed that every ten seconds you scratch your chest. Are you all right?"

Guy sighed. "It's a bit embarrassing, really."

"You can tell me," she said reassuringly.

Guy sighed. "Well, before I left for the subway, Cody and Kyle came by with a bunch of bottles of cologne. Kyle sprayed one bottle on me, and, well, um, I'm allergic to cologne. They thought it was Kairi who was allergic to it, but I can forgive them since we're brothers. The cologne makes me itch like crazy."

Rena laughed a little. "That's so cute. No man would ever admit something like that. When we get home, I have a bottle of Gold Bond you can use. That should relieve the itching."

Guy nodded. "Thanks."

"No problem," Rena replied.

\---

A half hour after leaving the restaurant, Guy and Rena returned to the apartment where Rena lived. Guy would soon find himself walking inside her place for the first time.

"We just have to keep it down," Rena whispered. "Maki's working pretty early tomorrow and if someone walks her up, they'll get a beating of a life time."

Guy nodded. "It can't be any worse than waking up Cody too early." Rena laughed in reply.

They made their way to the bathroom. Guy took off his leather jacket as Rena searched for the Gold Bond in the cabinets. _'Where is that bottle?'_ Rena thought while rummaging through every inch of the cabinets. _'I just wish Maki could be more organized with things. It would make things so much - aha! Here it is!'_

Rena pulled out the Gold Bond bottle and closed the cabinets. Through the mirror, she could see Guy without a shirt on. Not expecting this, Rena almost dropped the bottle in surprise. Although Guy's chest was a bit red from the allergic reaction, he has a perfect built. Just seeing his biceps and six-pack made Rena want to melt to the floor.

 _'Whoa!'_ Rena thought. _'Am I dreaming?'_

Regaining her composure, Rena turned to Guy trying to keep her reaction inside of her, though she was sure that her face was red at this point. "It took me a while, but I found it," she said.

Guy went up to her to take the bottle, but Rena quickly pulled it away from him as an idea came to her. "You've been so nice to me all night, so I want to pay you back." Then she thought evilly, _'I am going to enjoy this!'_

She opened the bottle and began to shake the contents over the palm of her hands. Now seeing what she had in mind, Guy was speechless, unsure of what to say at this point.

Rena walked up to him. "Give your hands a break for a little bit," she said. She looked into his eyes and started rubbing the powder on his chest.

Guy could feel his heart hammering against his chest as she touched his pectorals with her soft, delicate hands. He looked into her eyes, suddenly feeling the urges to kiss her.

 _'Should I?'_ he thought. He swallowed hard. _'It's not the right time. Not yet…'_

Rena could hear him swallow. _'I must be making him nervous. I hope that's a good thing.'_

Guy started to feel his body go numb, especially every time her hand passed over his heart. _'Can I control myself any longer?'_ he found himself thinking suddenly.

Before he knew it, Rena pulled her hands away. "Better?" she asked.

Guy sighed, feeling a bit disappointed that the moment came and went so fast. "Yeah, it's better."

As Rena washed her hands, Guy placed his shirt and jacket back on. The Gold Bond has definitely relieved the itching, but he almost liked to think that maybe it was really Rena's hands.

The two walked towards the front door. "Thank you for the evening," Rena said. "At least we'll see each other again on Sunday."

Guy nodded. "At the dojo, of course."

"Of couse," Rena said as Guy opened the apartment door.

"Thank you for the Gold Bond treatment," Guy said.

Rena nodded. _'But which treatment? The powder or my hands?'_ she thought wickedly.

"Good night Rena," Guy said.

"Good night," Rena replied. Guy looked at her one more time before making his way down the hall. When he turned a corner, Rena closed the door and locked it...

Down the hall, a man watched Guy leave the apartment. He stared at Guy until the elevator doors closed.

He turned on his walkie-talkie. "The woman we attacked previously has united with the man who saved her. It seems like they won't be seeing each other tomorrow. Tomorrow night, we'll attack."


	9. Chapter 9

The next day, Rena found herself at her job with Nanase. Nanase looking around the restaurant. "For a Saturday, it's so empty here. I guess this is what the holidays do to a restaurant."

"Yeah," Rena agreed. There are only two customers in the restaurant, a couple, being served by another waitress. The two girls sat in the back room waiting for customers to sit at their assigned tables.

Nanase looked at Rena. "Come on Rena, tell me everything."

Rena looked at Nanase with confusion. "What do you mean?"

Nanase grinned. "I want to know how your date was with my brother. I want to make sure that he didn't treat you like a big jerk."

Rena laughed a little. "Don't worry, he didn't treat me like a jerk. He was so sweet throughout the entire date. Before he came to pick me up, however, Kyle and Cody came over to his apartment and they had sprayed cologne on him. When he told me that cologne made him itch, I gave him Gold Bond to cure it."

"No wonder he smelled like powder when he got home," Nanase laughed. "What else happened?"

Rena grinned evilly. "I was the one who put the Gold Bond on him."

Nanase laughed even more. "I wish I could've seen his face! Oh great, now Gold Bond will never be the same to me again!"

Rena laughed along with her.

Nanase wiped away a tear that began to develop in the corner of her eye from laughing. "So, other than the Gold Bond treatment, what else happened?"

From there, Rena told her everything that happened last night from the moment he came to her door, until the moment he left.

"You know," Nanase said after Rena finished. "There are so many jerks in this world. My brother may be anti-social, but he's a very sweet person and has so much respect for women. He's so polite that Kyle once said that it's sickening. You're so lucky to find someone like that and I hope you two get to spend more time together."

Rena smiled at her comment. "Well, thank you, but we're just friends."

"Doesn't seem like it though."

"Yeah…"

Rena looked out the window. She was going to see Guy tomorrow when he trained her at the dojo. She couldn't wait until then.

\---

"Okay everyone!" Guy called out to his students. "Class is over now. Monday, we'll be working more on our kicks. Have a good weekend."

His students bowed to him before they started making their way to their bags over by the benches. Guy wiped a bead of sweat off by his brow and sighed little. He looked at the time. 'One o'clock,' he thought. It was time for his lunch break.

Guy walked to the changing room, grabbed a towel, and wiped the rest of the sweat off his face. Then he heard a knock on the door.

"Come in," Guy said. The door opened. Guy turned and was surprised to see Kairi come in. "Hey Kairi, what are you doing here?"

"Well, I'm off from work and I'm bored," Kairi replied grinning. "So I figured, hey, why don't I visit my big brother here since he goes on his break for an hour."

"All right," said Guy. "In that case, let's grab something to eat and bring it back here."

"That's fine by me," the younger brother replied.

The brothers agreed to get some McDonald's a few buildings down. After ordering and waiting for their food, they returned back to the dojo and sat in the back area.

Kairi took a bite out of his cheeseburger then looked at Guy. "So, tell me, what happened with Rena last night?"

Guy smirked a little as he found himself thinking thinking about the Gold Bond treatment Rena gave him. "I admit… I've never been so relaxed before."

"Actually," Kairi replied. "You've been pretty relaxed ever since Rena came to your life. I'm glad to see a relaxed Guy Hinato for once."

Guy laughed a little. "Yeah. I guess I'm glad to see a relaxed me as well."

The brothers ate more of their lunch before Kairi spoke again. "Hey Guy, I have a strange question to ask you."

Guy stared at his little brother. "Yeah?"

Kairi gave him a serious expression. "Do you think you are falling in love with Rena?"

He looked at Kairi with a little shock. He didn't expect a question like that to pop up, especially this soon.

"Well," Guy began to say as Rena appeared in his mind. To him, she was a nice, smart, funny, beautiful woman. "I wouldn't call it love, at least not yet. Love is supposed to come with time. I can say now is that I do care about her a lot."

"I thought so," Kairi replied. "Even if one changes you a little bit, it does mean that you care about the person."

"You think so?"

Kairi nodded. Guy smirked a little, feeling glad that he could talk to someone like Kairi, especially since they were brothers. His other male friends, especially Cody and Kyle, would've made jokes and possibly laughed about it.

"When are you seeing her again?" Kairi asked.

"Tomorrow. I'm going to train her here."

"That's cool. I have work tomorrow, so I'm kind of going to miss out."

"And if you did come," Guy said. "I'll have to kill you."

The brothers laughed a little.

\---

Rena came home late that night from Ming's. After closing the door behind her, she walked over to the answering machine and saw that there were two messages.

Rena pressed the play button. The first message came on.

"Hi this is The Metro City Phone Company calling for Maki Genryusai. We wanted to talk to you concerning about your cell phone bill. Please call us back as soon as possible at 555-6631."

 _'Oh boy,'_ Rena thought to herself.

Then the next message came on.

"Hey Rena, this is Maki. I'm not going to be home until about midnight. My jerk of a boss is making me work later because HE'S working late. That jerk, I can't stand him! Don't worry about dinner; I'm just going to have some bread or something. I'll see you later, sis."

Rena laughed a little. "Poor Maki." She looked at the time, which read ten o'clock. "Good thing I had dinner before coming back here. Now I'm in a mood for some cheesecake."

She placed her purse and keys down on the kitchen counter before making her way to the refrigerator. She found a piece of cheesecake and took it out. She opens a draw nearby, taking out a fork. After settling down at the table, she unwrapped the clear Saran wrap off of the cake.

"Maki will kill me for eating this, but like they say, you snooze, you lose."

As Rena took a bite of the cake, she found herself looking at the front door. She knew that Maki usually locked the bolt part of the door and then made her way down the fire escape. It was a habit that annoyed her whenever she came home before her sister because it forced her to go to the fire escape in order to get in her own place.

But with Maki not home, Rena saw why she got in the apartment so easily...

The bolt lock was broken into two pieces!

Rena's heart began to race as she jumped up from her chair and dropped her fork on the floor. _'Oh my God!'_ she thought as she felt panicked rising within her. _'There's someone in my apartment!'_

The young woman looked around her apartment from where she was standing. She noticed, as far as she could tell, that all of the items are in their places. Nothing looked like they were stolen.

Rena wanted to check her and Maki's rooms, but quickly changed her mind as she didn't want to take any chances that may cause her to lose her life. She slowly backed away from the kitchen and walked towards the front door. The only sound she could hear was her breathing, swearing that it was as loud as a jet's engines.

As soon as she placed her hand on the knob, the nearby closet suddenly flew open.

Rena shrieked with terror as someone grabbed her around the waist. Rena managed to smack the man hard enough to let her go. She then pulled back to take a better look at the man. He was a thin man with red hair and sunglasses. He wore a yellow cape over his green uniform-like clothes.

"Who are you?!" Rena cried out.

The man only laughed and ran over to her. Rena looked around quickly and soon noticed an empty vase on the nightstand. She grabbed it and threw it at the man, who quickly dodged out of the way. The vase ended up crashing into pieces against the wall.

The man got himself close to Rena, managing to grab her before throwing her against the wall. Rena screamed for help, but the man shut her up quickly by slapping her across the face.

"We want you with us, Rena," the man said, grinning maniacally. "We want you with us."

\---

Nearby, Guy got off the subway train, soon making his way down the streets.

During his walk, he thought back on his conversation with Kairi earlier today. Could it be that Kairi may be right and that he cared for her more than he realized? Guy sighed. After closing the dojo for the right and having a quick dinner, the young man decided to go to Rena's house and surprise her with a movie night. In his right hand, he held a movie called 'The Skulls.'

When Guy saw her apartment, he realized that it was a good thing he came when he suddenly hears a female crying for help. Guy's heart jumped to his throat as he recognized Rena's screams, remembering how it sounded when he saved her the first time.

Quickly, he started making his way into the apartment. Knowing that elevators took forever, he began to run up the stairs, not stopping until he reached her floor. He saw that her door was partly ajar and barged right in.

Over in the living room, he saw a man laughing whiling pinning Rena against the wall. He immediately noticed the tears falling down her face out of fear.

Guy ran over to the man and pulled him away from her. Rena could only watch as Guy threw the man against the wall.

"What the hell do you think you are doing?" Guy demanded. "Don't you have any respect?"

The man laughed. "Why should I have respect?"

Guy threw a few punches at the man, soon knocking him out unconscious. He stared at the man for another moment before turning towards Rena, who was sitting on the floor and leaning against the wall. More tears fell out of her eyes.

Guy ran over to Rena and sat next to her. "Rena, are you okay?" He touched her arm. He could feel her trembling with fear. "What did he do to you?"

Rena tried her best to speak through her tears. "He said something about wanting me with someone. Guy, I was so scared, I honestly didn't know what was going to happen to me."

Guy wrapped his arms around her. She buried her head into his chest and sobbed uncontrollably. "Shhh, it's over now. He won't hurt you again." He brought her closer to him. _'Why in the world would someone try to hurt her?'_ he thought. _'What did she ever do except live her life?'_

He leaned down to her and kissed her forehead. As he pulled away, he noticed something on the floor just next to him. He reached over to it and realizes that it was an ID card of the person who attacked her.

 _'Billy,'_ Guy thought, feeling anger rising up within him. _'That bastard.'_

Rena looked up at him. Guy quickly puts the ID card away, not wanting her to see it. "How did you know that I was in trouble?"

Guy held up a movie case. "I was going to surprise you with a movie night, but I guess the plans changed."

Rena forced a smile. "That's so sweet of you. I'm sorry I gave you a little surprise of my own."

Guy wiped the tears away from her face. "It's all right. You didn't ask for this." He looked at her seriously. "It's a good thing I'm training you tomorrow. I don't want to see you hurt again like this."

"Will you stay here with me tonight?"

Guy nodded and kisses her forehead once more. "Sure. I will."

 _'Maybe Kairi's right,'_ he suddenly thought. _'Maybe I am falling in love with her…'_


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the super short chapter.

That same night, Guy called the police to inform them about Billy, the man who attacked Rena. The police came by that night and arrested him. It was no surprise to Guy when an officer told him that Billy worked for Mad Gear.

 _'Mad Gear?'_ Guy thought. _'What did they possibly want with Rena?'_

Just before going to bed in the living room, Guy checked up on Rena. He smirked a bit, seeing how peaceful she looked when she was sleeping.

He sighed a little. _'Hopefully, Billy was just some guy looking for 'entertainment,''_ he thought. _'If so, then there's no need to tell Rena that he's a part of Mad Gear. I don't want to scare her and make her worry all the time. I know it's stupid, but for her, I just don't want her to be afraid.'_

He soon closed the door gently behind him.

\---

Guy tightened his brown fighting gloves after stretching himself out a little. It was late in the afternoon at the dojo, which was currently not running their hours. Guy was only here for one reason.

He was here to train Rena in self defense.

 _'I'll have to start with the basics,'_ Guy thought. _'Just like how I started when I was a child.'_

Rena was getting dressed in the changing room in the back. Guy was already prepared and waiting, wearing his traditional orange karate gi with a gold sash around his waist and two white kanjis on the left side of his uniform, brown fighting gloves, and his white and orange tennis shoes. He waited for Rena in the training room.

Guy noticed a gray punching bag near the back. He walked up to it and stared at it for a little bit before getting into his fighting stance. Then, once he was ready, he lightly punched and kicked at it just lightly enough so that he didn't break a sweat too quickly.

As he worked out, Rena came out of the dressing room. She saw Guy punching and kicking at the large bag.

"Don't get yourself too worked up," Rena said smiling.

Guy gave a final hard punch to the punching bag sending it swinging backwards. Guy looked at Rena. He smirked a little, thinking how cute she looks with her white karate gi and her long black hair tied into a single bun.

"You ready?" Guy asked. He was then snapped out of his trance when the punching bag swung back and smacked Guy sending him flying a few feet to the side.

Rena laughed a little bit. She went over to the punching bag and stopped it from swinging. Then, she bended down towards Guy. "Are you okay?" she asked.

Guy laughed a little. "Yeah, I'm okay. That would usually happen to Cody or Kyle, but not me."

"Maybe the punching bag's not in a very good mood today," Rena replied. She put her hand out to help Guy back on his feet. He took her hand and she pulled him back up. For a brief moment, they lock eyes and only stared at each other.

Then, Guy quickly broke the silence. "So, shall we begin?"

Rena smiled. "Yes, sensei."

Guy began to walk towards the equipment room. As he did, he spoke to Rena. "The very first thing you'll be learning are the basics. The important basics of any kind of martial art are concentration, speed, and control."

He walked into the equipment room and got out a pair of gloves, the kinds which protected his hands when Rena would practice her punches. Then he walked back over to her.

"Let's start with punches." He clenched his fists and brought them to either side of his hips. Rena watched his demonstration before following his stance.

For a few hours, Guy showed Rena some of the basic moves. By the time they were finished, the sun has already set for the night.

"Do you want to get something to eat before we go home?" Guy asked.

Rena smiled at him. "Sure. Let me get back into my regular clothes."

"All right," Guy replied.

After having their drinks at Starbucks, they walked out the door into the streets of Metro City.

"I want to do something tonight," said Guy.

"Like what?" asked Rena.

Guy shrugged. "I don't know... um…" He then blurted out the first thing that came to mind. "Let's go to a club and dance or something."

Rena was a bit surprised by that suggestion, especially coming from some like him. "You don't seem like the type to go to clubs."

"I admit, I'm not," Guy replied. He shrugged. "I don't know, I guess I'm just in the mood to go to a club for some strange reason."

"Then let's go," Rena said.

Guy looked at her in surprise. "Are you sure? I mean..."

"Yes, I'm sure." Rena wrapped her arm around the crook of his elbow. "Let's find a good club and get going."

"All right," Guy said. "There's a place called Johnny's. Cody and Jessica go there all the time."

"Do you think they'll be there?"

"Nah, its Sunday. I imagine Jessica's father wouldn't want her going out on a Sunday night."

"Well, then let's go."

They began to walk. Guy looked up towards the dark, cloudy sky. _'I just hope Mad Gear won't be around tonight. I don't want them to ruin our night.'_


	11. Chapter 11

That night, Guy and Rena went to a nightclub called Johnny's. When they entered, they saw tons of lights flashing around and people dancing close to each other.

"Looks like an interesting place!" Rena cried trying to talk louder than the loud music that played. The bass of the music made them feel as though their own hearts were pounding with the beat.

"What?!" cried Guy, trying his best to hear her.

"Nevermind!"

"Do you want to get something to drink?!"

"What?!"

Guy gave up and took Rena's hand gently, catching her by surprise. Then, he began to lead her towards the bar area.

When they got to the bar, Guy ordered himself and Rena two bottles of water, not wanting to get himself drunk. They were now far away from where the music was playing.

"So why here?" asked Rena looking at Guy.

Guy looked back at her. "I guess I wanted to go someplace, well, loud." A frown appeared on his face. "If you want, we can go someplace else."

"No," Rena replied. "Don't worry about it. I kind of want to release all this energy I have right now."

Guy laughed a little. "All right, if you insist."

Then, their drinks were served. Rena raised the water bottle. "To us!"

Guy smirked. "To us!"

They clink their water bottles together. Then, someone knocked into Guy a little bit. Annoyed, Guy turned around to see who bumped into him. He became even more annoyed as he saw two blonds making out with each other.

"Could go guys cool it?" he asked as politely as possible.

The couple turned to him. Soon, Guy became a bit shocked as he recognized the couple.

"Cody? Jessica?"

"Hey, buddy! What's happening?" Cody cried out. Guy quickly smelled the scotch coming out of his mouth.

 _'Needless to say, he's definitely drunk,'_ Guy thought.

"Um, nothing much."

"Hi, Rena!" cried Jessica who was also drunk.

"Um, hi," Rena replied.

"Isn't this a fun place, Guy?" Cody asked. "I mean, really, you never go to places like this."

Guy was a little shocked that he asked this. He figured that Cody wouldn't remember crap when drunk even if he tried. Guy had to give him credit for remembering at least that.

"It's all right," Guy replied. "But they don't have to make it so loud, the music I mean."

"That's the best part about clubs," said Jessica. "There's plenty of loud music, great dancing, and this place has the best Whiskas!"

"Um, baby," Cody said. "It's whiskey, not Whiskas. Whiskas is a cat food… or is it a dog food?"

"No it's not, honey!" Jessica cried out. "It's Whiskas!"

Guy and Rena tried not to laugh. They realized how funny Cody and Jessica can be when they were drunk.

Cody looked back at Guy and Rena. "We're going to be dancing now! Ciao!"

"Ciao!" cried Jessica. The two of them wobbled to the dance floor.

Guy blinked a couple of times. "It's a good thing neither of them have their own cars."

"Yeah," Rena replied. "Let's just be careful here."

"That sounds good to me."

Then, silence fell between the two. They found themselves watching people dancing on the dance floor as they drink out of their bottled waters.

The heat of the room started to get to Rena. She took off her jacket, but even with short sleeves on, she still didn't feel comfortable.

Guy noticed this. "Is everything all right?" he asked.

"Nothing," Rena answered. "It's just pretty hot in here. Do you mind if I stopped at the bathroom?"

"No problem," Guy replied.

Then, to Guy's surprise, Rena gave him a quick peck on his cheek. Then, she pulled away and started making her way towards the bathroom. Guy touched the part of his face she kissed him.

 _'I'm definitely falling for her,'_ he thought. _'But am I ready to admit it to her?'_

Then, he noticed both Cody and Jessica walked over to him.

Oh great…

"Hey again, buddy!" cried Cody, giving Guy a light punch in the arm.

"Um, hi," Guy replied.

"Where's Rena?" asked Jessica.

"She'll be back. She felt a bit uncomfortable so she went to the bathroom."

"How could she feel uncomfortable?" Cody asked. "I mean, she's with you for crying out loud!"

Guy narrowed his eyes at his best friend.

\---

Rena let the water fall on to her hands underneath the faucet. She tried to collect as much of it as possible. When she did, she splashed it on to her face. She felt more cooled down than she did before.

 _'That's better,'_ she thought. Then, she began reapplying her lip-gloss. _'I wonder what Guy is doing at the moment. He's probably being tortured by Cody and Jessica, ha ha. I better get out there and save him.'_

She put her lip-gloss away in her small purse before she started to make her way out of the bathroom. After stepping out, someone stepped in front of her. She looked up thinking that it was Guy, but to her surprise, it was a stranger. The stranger was probably in his forties and not very good looking with his long, greasy brown hair. Just by the smell of him and his glassy eyes, he was way more drunk than Cody and Jessica were combined.

"Hey there Princess," the man said with a smile, showing off yellow teeth with a few missing. "How about we go somewhere and get it on."

Rena narrowed her eyes. "Just leave me alone." She tried to walk around him, but the stranger wouldn't let her.

The man laughed. "I'm afraid that's not an option." Then, he grabbed her arms quickly.

"Let go of me!" Rena cried out angrily. Then, she attempted to kick him in the stomach, but because of his tall height, her foot landed hard on his, um, 'special place.'

"Oof!" the man cried out. He quickly fell on his knees in pain.

Guy had only turned his head in time to see Rena kick the man.

He jumped out of his seat and began to make his way towards her. He looked at the drunken man, who was holding his special spot and was groaning in a lot of pain. He ran over to Rena.

"Rena, are you all right?" he asked frantically.

Rena growled a little bit, which surprised him. "Damn it! I meant to kick him in the stomach, not there!" She then let's out a sigh. "Oh well, maybe next time."

"Do… you want me to take you home now?" Guy asked.

Rena looked at him. "Sure. I'm getting pretty tired any ways."

"All right. But first, we have to find Cody and Jessica and at least try to get him out of here."

"Sounds good to me," Rena replied. From there, they begin to look for Cody and Jessica again.


	12. Chapter 12

_Three Weeks Before Christmas..._

Two days later, Rena and Nanase were working their shift at the restaurant. Ever since she started working there, Rena was used to working when it's not as busy, but today, it seemed like half of Metro City was in the mood to have Chinese food, particularly at Ming's.

Two hours into her shift, Rena walked up to a big table filled with ten people, two sets of couples, and six children. The oldest, she guessed, was probably eight years old, the youngest was probably two years old.

"Hi, my name is Rena, I'll be your waitress for this afternoon. Would you like to order some drinks while you look through your menus?"

The youngest boy looked at Rena. "Chocolate milkshake!"

"No Bobby," one of the mothers said. "You are not getting a milkshake!"

"No!" Bobby whined. "I wanna milkshake!"

It literally took ten minutes for them to order everyone's drinks because the kids wanted a drink the parents wouldn't let them have (or wasn't available). When she left the table, Rena sighed. She wondered how long it's going to take for them to order their meals...

\---

"Okay everyone," said Guy to his students. "Next time, we'll be working more on the roundhouse kicks. Have a good day!"

Guy's students bowed to him before they walked away to grab their belongings. Guy sat down on the bench and wiped the sweat off his face with his hands. He looked at the time. He sighed of relief knowing that it's now his break time.

It was then that Cody and Kyle walked over to him and sat on either side of him.

'Great,' Guy thought.

"Hey buddy, what's up?" Cody asked slapping Guy hard on the back. Guy didn't expect this so he accidentally choked on his own saliva and started coughing like crazy.

"Whoa, you all right?" asked Kyle. "Do you need the Heimlich maneuver?"

Guy quickly shook his head from side to side, but Kyle ignored this. He grabbed Guy from behind, but then Guy hit Kyle in the stomach with his elbow.

"Oof!" Kyle cried and pulled back. He rubbed his stomach. "Owe! What was that for?"

Guy yelled, "I don't need the Heimlich maneuver!"

"Chill out," said Cody, a bit taken aback by his reaction. "He was only trying to help."

"Yeah," Kyle replied. "I'm just a good friend trying to help."

Guy sighed and placed his hands over his forehead. "Sorry. I've been pretty stressed out the last couple of days."

"You can talk to us about it," Cody said patting Guy's back... gently this time.

Guy sighed. He usually talked about his problems to Kairi, but at this point, he felt in desperate need to talk about what's bothering him.

Guy removed his hands from his head. "Ever since Rena was almost attacked at Johnny's, I've been wondering about Mad Gear. Okay, so the guy from the club had nothing to do with Mad Gear, but what if he was?"

"Don't worry about it," Cody said. "Really, there's nothing to worry about. Besides, what would they want with Rena? She's a harmless, young woman."

Cody was right. What would they want with Rena? Guy sighed of relief, feeling a little better about what Cody had said.

Later after the dojo closed, everyone met up there after a long day for every single person.

"My feet really hurt," said Nanase, taking her shoes off.

"Phew!" cried Kyle, covering his nose. "It's stinky in here all of a sudden!"

"Ha, ha," Nanase replied sarcastically. She began rubbing her feet to ease the pain.

Guy looked over at Rena. "How was your day?"

Rena let out a big sighed. Then, she placed her head on Guy's shoulder. "I'm really tired."

Guy smirked, now feeling good that Rena was by his side. "Well, work is over now."

"Thank goodness."

"Hey!" cried Hokuto. "Someone made a promise that she would spar with me today!" She looked at Nanase.

Nanase sighed. "Oh, can we do it next time? I had a long day at work and I'm tired."

"Well," Hokuto said. "When someone attacks you in this condition, would you still fight to save your own life?"

Nanase let out another sigh. "Okay, okay, I'll spar."

"Yay!" Hokuto cried.

The both of them grabbed their staffs and got into their stances.

"Cody, say begin," said Hokuto.

That's when everyone heard kissing noises. They turned towards the noise and saw Cody and Jessica making out.

"That is disturbing," whispered Kairi.

"CODY!" cried Hokuto.

Cody and Jessica both jumped up and broke their kiss.

"Oh!" Cody cried. "Um, begin!"

The sisters narrowed their eyes at each other as they got ready for battle.

It was Nanase who made the first move. She leapt towards Hokuto and began aiming her staff. Hokuto began blocking each move Nanase made. Back and forth the sisters sparred. Everyone watched, their heads moving from side to side.

Then, to Nanase's surprise, Hokuto jumped in the air and aimed her foot at her. Nanase quickly dodged out of the way. As soon as Hokuto landed and turned to face her little sister, Nanase started throwing more moves at her. Hokuto blocking those moves again.

Then, Hokuto managed to knock Nanase's staff out of her hands. The staff rolled over to the side of the dojo. Hokuto aimed her staff at Nanase and jabbed it at her. Nanase performed a backward flip. With her feet, she managed to knock Hokuto's staff out of her hands.

Hokuto ran over to Nanase and began throwing series of punches at her. Nanase blocked them until Hokuto found an opening and punched her hard in the stomach. The wind was knocked out of Nanase. Then, Hokuto lifted her right leg up in the air and hit Nanase's back causing her to fall flat on her face.

Hokuto looked down at her little sister. Although the spar was short, she decided to end it since Nanase was tired enough from work.

Hokuto put her hand out. "You're definitely getting better, little sister."

Nanase managed to smile despite her loss. She took Hokuto's hand and is pulled up. "Thanks, big sister."

Suddenly, everyone jumped out of their skin as they heard glass shatter They turned around and saw the dojo's window shattered into a million pieces. On the ground was a brick with a rubber band tied around it, holding down a single piece of paper.

"That's not good." said Kyle.

"What is it?" asked Guy.

Kairi slowly walked over to the brick. As soon as he got to it, he took the folded paper off of it. He opened it up. Just by looking at the letters, which contained magazine cuttings, it wasn't going to be a good message.

"So," said Nanase with worry. "What does it say?"

Kairi took a deep breath and read it out loud. "Soon, you will bow to Mad Gear."


	13. Chapter 13

Immediately after reading the letter, Kairi called the Metro City Police Department. They soon came to the dojo to investigate. Although the police were fully aware that this was all in the hands of Mad Gear, there was nothing that could be done.

At one point, Guy called his business partner in the west coast concerning the dojo. His partner suggested closing the dojo down for a couple days for the safety of their students.

When Rena heard this, she looked at him with worry. "What do you think is going to happen now?"

Guy shrugged. "I'm not sure. For now, the dojo will be closed for maybe a couple of days. Let me walk you home."

Rena nodded. "All right."

Guy and Rena walked back to her apartment. Before going in, they swapped phone numbers, knowing that they won't see each other again for at least couple of days.

\---

_Three Days Later..._

"Great lunch," said Maki. "You know, I'm so glad that I finally quit that dumb job. To think I came all the way from Japan only to end up quitting…"

"Have you been looking for another job?" asked Rena.

"Yes I am. As a matter of fact, I have an interview in a couple of days. If I get this new secretary job, I'll be working from ten o'clock to five o'clock."

"Just like your big sister," Rena joked.

"Ha, ha," Maki replied. "Now, since we're both not working, what do you want to do now?"

Rena shrugged. Then, the phone suddenly rang.

"I got it!" Maki cried jumping out of her seat. She grabbed the portable phone from the kitchen counter and pressed the 'on' button.

"Hello? …Yes she's here." Maki raised the phone in the air and smiled. "It's Guy."

Rena got up and took the phone from Maki's hand. Before she could speak into it, Maki placed her chin on Rena's shoulder.

"Maki," Rena growled. "Why don't you watch Scooby-Doo on the Cartoon Network or something?"

Maki sighed. "Darn." Then she walked into her bedroom.

Once she was sure her sister was gone, Rena brought the phone up to her ear. "Guy?"

"Hey Rena, how are you?" Guy asked on the other side of the phone.

"Pretty good," Rena replied. "But since I'm off from work today, I'm stuck here with Maki."

Guy laughed. "Try living with two pigs. Heck, they don't even live here, but they're here any ways."

"You're mean!" Rena heard Cody cry out in the background.

"Yeah!" Kyle agreed.

Guy sighed and spoke to the Travers brothers. "What happened to your Scooby-Doo movie?"

Rena laughed remembering what she said to Maki a minute ago.

"Guy, we don't know what to do," said Kyle. "All we're watching is Scooby hiding and jumping around."

"Yeah," Cody said. "And it also says words like 'Play,' 'Special Features,' stuff like that."

Guy puts the phone down. "You morons, you're supposed to take the DVD remote and press the enter button to play the movie!"

"Oh!" Cody and Kyle cried out at the same time, but then started laughing. Cody gave Guy a thumb's up. "You're so smart, Guy! Thanks." Then, he and Kyle left the room, laughing even more.

Guy rolled his eyes, knowing that they were pulling his leg (they couldn't be that stupid), and brought the phone back up to his ear. "I'm pretty sure they were messing with me just now. Rena?"

"Yeah?"

"Sorry about that."

"It's okay. What are you doing now?"

Guy sighed. "I'm bored."

Rena smiled. "I have an idea! That new movie, _Flames of a Dragon,_ comes out today."

"The one starring Fei Long?" Guy asked.

"Yup, that's the one."

"I almost forgot it came out today! According to the reviews, it's going to be a big hit."

Rena smiled. "So do you want to go see it with me?"

Guy smirked. Not only did she ask him to go somewhere, but he also loves hearing her sweet voice. "Sure. Do you want to see it tonight?"

"Definitely," Rena replied. "I'll see you then."

\---

After seeing the most intense and exciting movie ever to hit theaters (at least to them), Guy and Rena made their way out of the theater, a bit disappointed that the movie was over.

"That was such a great movie!" Guy said with enthusiasm. "I loved the part when he fell off that building and just before you think he's a goner, he grabs on to the poll, slides down, and kicks the awaiting enemy right in the face!"

Rena laughed a little. "I loved the part when he was face to face with the main villain and the villain was like, 'Get ready to feel the wrath of death,' and Fei-Long was like, 'No... feel this!' and he kicks him in the stomach and sends him to the opposite wall!"

They both laughed. Guy looked at Rena with a smirk. He knew since he picked her up, but to him, she was more beautiful tonight in her cream-colored shirt, her black jacket, blue jeans, and tennis shoes. Her black hair was done in a French braid revealing more of her heart-shaped face.

Rena looked back at Guy. He was very good-looking with his white Tommy Hilfigure sweater with a blue and red strip across his chest, black leather jacket, blue jeans, and white tennis shoes.

As a matter of fact, both of their outfits seemed to match perfectly.

"So," Guy said. "What do you want to do now?"

Rena shrugged. "Well, I'm kind of in the mood for something hot to drink. How about we go to the café and get something."

"Sure," Guy replied.

The café was right across the street from where they were standing. Guy took Rena's hand into his. When the streets were cleared, they quickly ran across the street. Guy and Rena laughed a little knowing that if a police officer had been around, they would've received a ticket for J-walking.

They walked into the café. They were the only customers in the café since it was pretty late and the café would be closing in fifteen minutes. They order their drinks and took a seat in the table next to the window.

Rena let out a sigh. "It's been a few weeks since I moved here with Maki. I can't believe all of the things that happened already."

"Like what?" Guy asked.

"Well, I have a great job, met some great employees, including Nanase who lead me to meet more people... including you, the man who saved my life on my second day living here." Rena reached both of her hands out and took one of Guy's hands into hers. "I'm so glad that we met. You've been so nice to me and I like having you by my side, and I... I like you, Guy."

After hearing this, Guy's heart seemed to light up with joy. He took one of Rena's hands, brought it up to his face, and kissed it. Then, he looked into her eyes.

"I like you too, Rena," he said. Then, for the first time, he cracked a real smile. "You've changed me ever since we met. You've brought me out of my shell. No one has managed to do that before."

Rena smiled back. They stare at each other as they continued to hold hands. Then, they hear someone say, "Excuse me?" Guy and Rena look up and saw one of the café workers standing over them. "We're going to be closing in five minutes."

"Okay," Guy said standing up. He and Rena cleaned up the table, threw out their garbage, and made their way out of the café.

Ten minutes later, they stood in front of Rena's apartment door.

"Well," said Guy. "I guess this is good bye again."

"Yeah," Rena replied feeling a little disappointed. "Hey, but at least we'll see each other after work tomorrow."

"True," Guy agreed. He then walked closer to Rena and wrapped his arms around her in a sweet embrace. Rena welcomed it and wrapped her arms around him as well. For a minute, they stay like this and Rena wished that this moment would last forever. She felt safe and well protected from harm.

Then, Guy moved his head so that the two of them would be face to face. They look into each other's eyes. Guy brought up a hand and placed it on her face. Rena replied by leaning her face into his hand a little.

Then, Guy began to lean his face towards her. Rena realized what was coming. She closed her eyes, leaned in, and parts her lips.

When their lips were just an inch away from touching, they hear a loud scream from within Rena's apartment.

They both snapped their eyes open.

"Maki!" Rena cried out. She quickly opened the door and she and Guy ran into the apartment, expecting Maki to be attacked by someone from Mad Gear.

Instead, they found Maki holding on to Kyle in front of the TV.

Maki looked up at Rena. "Hi Rena! You're back... and with Guy too!"

"Maki?" Rena asked. "Why were you screaming?"

"Oh, we're watching _Deep Blue Sea,_ " explained Kyle. "Maki got extremely frightened just now when the shark popped out from nowhere."

"Oh…" Rena replied.

Guy stood there, wanting to bang his head multiple times against the wall. Not only was Kyle around every time something goes wrong, but he had come very close to kissing Rena.


	14. Chapter 14

_Two Weeks Before Christmas…_

"Now we will be adding a pinch of the salt and the pinch of the pepper..."

In the late evening, Rena was so bored out of her mind that she ended up turning on the TV and watched a late-night cooking show with some lady with an Italian accent. Maki was sleeping after a hard day at her new job. Luckily for Rena, Maki loved her job enough so that she didn't complain anymore.

Now, for some odd reason, Rena had been bored in her home ever since. _'It's probably because Maki doesn't complain about her job any more.'_

Rena tried cleaning the apartment since she was off from work today, but there really wasn't much to clean. All she really had to do was mop the kitchen floor and wash the windows, which both only took her two hours to do.

It was about ten-thirty at night. Rena wanted to go to sleep, but she wasn't tired. Nothing was keeping her up, it was just how she was feeling...

Then, to her surprise, Rena heard a knock on her door.

 _'Hmm, who could that be?'_ she asked herself. She got up from the couch with the blanket wrapped around her small-framed body. The young woman walked over to the door and looked through the peek hole. She smiled as she saw Guy standing in front of her door. She unlocked it, undid the latch, then opened the door.

"Guy," Rena said. "What are you doing here?"

Guy shrugged. "Well, I thought I should visit you for a little while."

Rena smiled. Basically, Guy was visiting her for no apparent reason, which she found pretty romantic. "Okay. Come in."

Guy walked into the apartment. Rena then locked the door behind her.

"Well," Guy said. "I guess you can't sleep either."

Rena shook her head. "No. I'm just sitting here watching a boring Italian cooking show. Maki's in her room sleeping like a baby."

Guy laughed a little. "I was going to call you, but I figured that your sister would kill me for waking her up, so I came over instead." He sat down next to Rena on the couch. "So what did you do on this boring day?"

"Just cleaned parts of the apartment," Rena replied. "That's about it really. What about you?"

"I slept most of the day. I don't think I woke up until three o'clock in the afternoon when Kyle came into my apartment. Apparently, Cody must've taught him house to unlock anyone's apartment with that stupid paper clip of his."

Rena laughed a little. "So what did you do?"

"The usual, I try to tell him to get out, but he just wouldn't listen." Guy let out a sigh. "Oh well, so much for that again."

Rena began to frown, noticing that Guy seemed not only tired, but stressed out as well. "Is anything wrong?" she asked.

Guy looked into her eyes. "How did you know?"

"You're not acting like the Guy I know," Rena replied.

Guy let out a loud sigh. "I have this bad feeling about something."

"Like what?"

"Like something bad happened tonight to... to someone..."

"Guy... is that why you came over here?"

Guy looked down at the ground and then slowly nodded. Then, he looked back up at her. "I care about you a lot Rena, and I don't want anything to happen to you."

Rena took her left hand and placed it on Guy's face. They looked into each other's eyes. "Guy... I'm glad that you care, but you can't worry about me all of the time. Just promise me that you won't be overprotective."

For a minute, Guy stayed silent. Then, without taking his eyes off of Rena's face, he nodded. "I promise."

For another minute, they stared into each other's dark eyes. Guy and Rena knew how close their faces were from each other and before they knew it, their lips were locked together in a sweet kiss. At first, neither one of them moved, both not sure what to do next. Then, Guy began to move his lips a little, creating a rhythm in the kiss. Rena began to follow that rhythm. All that could be heard in the small room at that point was their passionate kissing and rhythmic breathing.

Soon, Rena found herself lying on her back on the couch with Guy on top of her. Both of them had their arms tightly around each other and made their kiss more passionate. Rena started to feel the butterflies in her stomach as she and Guy began to let their tongues slowly dance in each other's mouths.

After five minutes, they released their kiss and looked into each other's eyes, both catching their breaths for a moment. Guy placed a hand on Rena's face. "We just..."

"I know," Rena replied.

Guy smiled a little. "Let's go in your room, um, just in case Maki comes out of her room."

Rena gave him her most seductive smile. "Okay."

Guy got on his feet. He then took Rena into his arms and carried her to her room.

\---

"I'm beat," Jessica Haggar cried out as she locked the door to her apartment behind her. Work has taken a lot out of her, especially since she had been working later than usual. It was eleven o'clock at night. Jessica was tired, but she wanted to stay up a little bit longer. She got her pajamas on, and then walked into the kitchen.

She turned the little TV on in the kitchen, feeling that her apartment was too quiet. Then, she went in the freezer and took out a pint of vanilla ice-cream. She then grabbed a spoon and began to dig in. She looked at the TV, noting that the news was on.

"...In other news, the criminal organization known as Mad Gear is still growing in this city rapidly. It may not be long before they manage to take over Metro City. Mayor Mike Haggar has been resisting Mad Gear's threats and is still working with the Metro City Police Department. He hopes to stop the organization once and for all..."

Jessica sighed. She took the remote and pressed the 'off' button, shutting off the television.

"Oh Daddy," Jessica said referring to the Mayor of Metro City. "I hope that we can stop Mad Gear soon. It seems to be getting worse by the minute."

Jessica began thinking about her father. It's been a while since she has seen him since he has been very busy with fighting Mad Gear, but despite that, he still made sure to call his daughter every day to let her know that he still loved her. Her mother had passed away years ago, sadly murdered by the hands of the organization. Jessica was too young to remember her, but she knew that her father has vowed to avenge her mother. Haggar didn't become Mayor just to get revenge on Mad Gear. He also became Mayor of the city to protect the city's people and to make sure that what happened to his wife will never happen again to anyone else.

Jessica became startled when the phone started ringing. She got up from her chair and walked over to the phone. She took it off the receiver and brought it up to her ear.

"Hello?"

"Hey, sugarplum," her boyfriend Cody said.

Jessica smiled. "Hey baby, what's up?"

"Nothing much," Cody replied. "How was work?"

"Tiring," Jessica replied. "But at least it's done and I'm off from work tomorrow."

"True," Cody said. "So do you want to do something tomorrow?"

"Like what?"

"Hmm ...how about we go to Metro Park and walk around? Maybe we can get some of those great tasting hot dogs at the hot dog stand."

"That would be great," Jessica said. "Well, I'm going to go now, baby, I'm pretty tired."

"All right then," Cody answered. "I love you."

"I love you too," Jessica said. She hung up the phone and sighed with happiness. Even if he had nothing to say, and even if a conversation wasn't long, Jessica loved it whenever Cody called. She turned her head and looked at a photo of them in a photo frame. The picture was taken not that long ago.

"Oh Cody, it's hard to believe how long we've been together."

_Two hours later..._

Jessica tried to sleep, but she couldn't. She tossed and turned while trying to fall asleep, but no matter what she did, it seemed impossible.

 _'Maybe I'm not that tired after all,'_ she thought.

She got up from her bed and began to walk towards the kitchen. She was once told that a glass of milk could help a person sleep at night. Jessica opened the fridge and grabbed a carton of milk. She went through her cabinets and took out a small glass cup. Then, she poured the milk into the cup and placed the carton back in the fridge. She then took a sip out of it.

She felt a heavy wind behind her back. She turned around and stared at the kitchen window... and noticed that it was wide opened! Jessica gasped and dropped her glass of milk. The cup landed on the floor and shattered into countless pieces.

_'There's someone in my apartment!'_

Suddenly, she felt someone grab her from behind. Jessica was just about to scream, but the person who now held her was too strong. The stranger placed a cloth over her nose and mouth and, as Jessica struggled to free herself, she breathed in the chemicals from the cloth. Just before she passed out, her captor ended up moving back and knocked down the photo frame containing the picture of her and Cody. When it landed, it shattered just like the glass of milk had a moment ago.


	15. Chapter 15

_The next morning..._

Guy and Rena slept peacefully under the sheets in Rena's small bedroom after a night of making love. Despite the buildings surrounding the apartment, the morning sun still managed to shine through the windows and beamed down on to the floor near them.

Guy fluttered his eyes open after what seemed to be the most peaceful sleep he had in a very long time. After his eyes adjusted to the light, he looked down at Rena, who slept in his muscular arms. Guy smiled to himself. Rena was indeed an angel to him, and he felt happy that she was here with him safe in his arms.

He bent his head down to her and kissed the top of her head. As he pulled back, he could feel her moving a little bit. He looked at her face and saw that she was beginning to open her eyes. Then, she looked up at him.

"Morning," Guy said with a small smile.

Rena smiled back. "Morning." She leaned up to him and planted a soft kiss on his lips. Guy returned the gesture and they both share a sweet, passionate kiss, both of them wishing that this moment would never end.

After the kiss, Guy looked into Rena's dark eyes. He took his right hand and stroked her jet-black hair a little before tucking it behind her ear.

"I'm glad that you moved here," Guy said. "I don't know where I would be right now."

Rena took his hand into hers. "Me too, Guy."

Guy smiled, loving her sweet voice saying his name. He leaned back down to her and kissed her lips again. Rena returned the kiss before slowly shifted her body so that she was on top of him.

Just before they could start making love once more, the phone suddenly rang startling the couple. They both stopped kissing and growled over the interruption.

Guy turned his head to check the caller ID on the phone. "Damn it, it's Cody. Should I get it?"

"Sure," Rena replied. "Then afterwards, we can go back to what we were just about to do."

Guy smiled at her, hoping that his upcoming conversation with Cody went quickly. He picked up the phone. "What?"

"Guy, its Cody!" Cody said frantically. "Listen, something happened last night! Jessica's been kidnapped!"

Guy stayed quiet for a brief second before he talked back. "Cody, quit joking around. Last time you joked about something like this-"

"Guy! I'm fucking serious about this! I got a call from Jessica's father! Mad Gear fucking kidnapped her!"

Rena managed to hear Cody's voice on the phone. Guy's brown eyes were completely wide opened. When Cody cursed liked this, it meant that he was sure as hell not joking around.

"Shit," Guy said. "Listen, where are you right now?"

"I'm at City Hall with Mayor Haggar," Cody replied.

"Okay," Guy said. "Rena and I will be coming down right now." Guy quickly hung up the phone and looked at Rena. "Cody's at City Hall. Jessica's been-"

"I know," Rena answered. "I heard Cody on the other side of the phone. Mad Gear kidnapped her."

Guy put on his boxers and his blue jeans. He looked at Rena again. "I wonder what Mad Gear wants with Jessica?"

"Who knows," Rena replied. "But I hope she's okay…"

\---

Within an hour, Guy and Rena arrived at City Hall. Cody waited by the main entrance to ensure the security guards that it's all right for them to come in. The three of them walked towards the elevator, which was located in the middle of the large building. They made their way to the top floor. Mayor Haggar's office took up the entire top floor.

When the elevator doors opened, Rena became amazed over how the office looked. It was larger than her apartment floor decorated nicely with paintings and plants. The carpeting was gray and the walls were white. There were many small tables and chairs around with a couple of black couches in the middle of the room. Mayor Haggar's black desk was enough to fit five people. Rena spotted the Mayor himself sitting at his desk looking out the window with a yellow pencil in his hand. Rena's heart filled with a bit of sadness as she saw the grim expression on Haggar's face. Haggar was an extremely built man and very tall, about 6'7' at the least. He had short dark-brown hair and bushy eyebrows. His mustache almost covered his frowning lips and his brown eyes stayed narrow.

Cody slowly walked up to him. "Mayor Haggar, my friends are here."

Haggar turned his head to Cody, then he looked over at Guy and Rena. He stood up and put a hand out. "Hi Guy, it's good to see you again."

Guy extended his arm out and shook hands with the Mayor of Metro City. "It's good to see you again as well, sir. I wish it was under better circumstances."

"Likewise," Haggar agreed. Then, he looked at Rena who was standing right next to Guy. He smiled a little. "And who is this young lady?"

Cody was just about to answer, but Guy managed to speak first. "This is my girlfriend, Rena."

Cody's mouth dropped open. _'Girlfriend?'_

Rena smiled a little and shook hands with Haggar, noticing right away how large his hand was compared to hers. "It's nice to meet you, Mr. Mayor."

"Same here, I just wish it was under better circumstances." As their hands parted, Haggar's smile quickly faded. "Those damn Mad Gear crew has kidnapped my daughter because I'm resisting their orders. I made my promise to my people that I will not let Mad Gear take over our city, but now that my daughter has been kidnapped, I'm just not so sure anymore. I just wished that I could've done better."

"Are the police investigating this now?" asked Rena.

"They would if they weren't so corrupted…"

Cody placed a hand on Haggar's shoulder with a grim look on his own face as well. "We might as well take this matter into our own hands."

Haggar looked over at Cody. "It's risky, but it's the only way that we can save Jessica." Then he let out a small sigh. "But there is only two of us, Cody, and Metro City is a big place."

Guy looked down at the ground a little bit. He had known Cody ever since he moved here from Japan. Cody had done a lot for him, even when he did them in the oddest ways.

Quickly making a decision, Guy snapped his head up to Haggar. "Then, I will help you both as well."

Haggar smiled at Guy. "Thank you."

When Guy spoke his words, Rena felt her heart panic. If Guy was going to help Cody and Haggar find Jessica, it meant that he would have to leave her and go on a pretty dangerous mission. Who knows how long he was going to be gone for.

Guy looked at Rena and could sense a bit of sadness in her. He reached her hand and took it into his. Rena looked up at Guy as he said, "Don't worry. Everything will be fine. We're going to find Jessica and we'll be all right."

 _'I hope you're right,'_ Rena thought.

\---

"Are you ready for this?" asked Kairi as he looked at his older brother.

Guy let out a long breath. It had been twelve hours since he and Rena found out that Jessica has vanished thanks to Mad Gear. Guy was ready to leave with Cody and Haggar from the dojo to look for Jessica. He was wearing his orange karate gi. The words 'Bushin Warrior' was written in white kanji over his heart. Underneath his outfit was his net shirt. He also wore brown fighting gloves, a gold sash around his slim waist, and white tennis shoes.

Guy looked at Cody and Haggar. Haggar wore nothing but green pants, black shoes, and a single brown suspender across his muscular chest. Cody wore a white t-shirt, which was clinging to his chest, blue jeans, and white sneakers. Both he and Haggar have a determined look on their faces.

Guy tightened his gloves. "Yeah, I think I'm ready."

"You guys need to be careful," said Nanase. "I don't want anything happening to you guys."

"Neither do I," said Hokuto.

"Are you sure you guys don't need any help?" asked Maki.

Haggar shook his head from side to side. "Three is enough. It's better to have a small company. That way, Mad Gear won't trace us very easily."

"We understand," replied Kairi.

"I wish I could go with you guys," said Kyle.

Rena could feel her hands shaking as she watched the man she truly cared about getting ready to leave to search for Jessica. She knew that Guy was a strong person and was willing to take the risk, even for other people. That's what the Bushin arts were about... fighting for good and riding the world of evil.

Guy looked over at Kairi. "Take care of everyone," he said. Then, his brown eyes turned to Rena. They had determination in them, but yet there was sadness in them at the same time. Tears started to develop in Rena's eyes.

"Do you guys think you could wait outside?" Guy asked everyone. "I want to speak to Rena here alone."

"All right," said Haggar. Everyone else nodded and walk outside into the cold night.

Rena walked closer to Guy. More tears develop in her eyes. "I don't want you to go," she whispered. A couple of tears pour out and dripped down her face, cursing in her head for not being able to control them.

Guy placed both hands on her face and wiped the tears away with his fingers. "I feel that this is the right thing to do," he whispered back. "Cody's my best friend and he needs my help."

"I know," Rena replied. "I know that this is something you feel is right. I guess... I'm afraid to lose you. I don't want you to get hurt."

She let herself fall into Guy's arms. He brought his arms around her and held her as close as he can as she quietly sobbed into his shoulder. "You won't lose me, I promise." He kissed her a couple of times on top of her head.

Rena held on to him tight. She never wanted to let him go and wished she could stop time and never let this moment end. But someone's life was on the line and she knew that it was more important.

She shifted her head to look up at him. Guy looked back down at her before bending down to press his lips against her. Their bodies were still, holding on to each other as they open and close their mouths and getting into a rhythm. Rena didn't want this to end. 

After ten seconds, Guy pulled away, but just as quickly, he embraced her. "We'll find Jessica, and I will be home in time for Christmas. That I promise."

As he held her, Guy could feel his heart break a little knowing that any minute, he would have to leave the woman he truly cared about. _'Please let me see her again soon,'_ he thought. _'And let her be safe.'_

They looked at each other again. "I have to go," Guy replied. Rena nodded. They held hands as they began to leave the dojo.

They meet up with the others. Haggar nodded his head to Guy. "Are you ready?"

"Yes," Guy replied. He bent down to Rena and kissed her one last time.

Kairi went over to Guy. "Don't worry," he whispered. "I'll watch over Rena."

Guy smiled to him. "Thank you, my brother."

Guy and Rena looked at each other one more time. Then, he began to walk away slowly. They kept their hands held until they were out of reach. As their hands parted, more tears fell down Rena's face as she brought her hand to her heart.

Guy walked over to Cody and Haggar. "Let's go," said Cody. The three of them began walking down the sidewalk. Rena and the others watched them walk until they turned a corner and disappeared into the cold, dark night.

Kairi placed a hand on Rena's shoulder. "He'll be fine," he said. "My brother will come back."

 _'I hope you're right, Kairi,'_ Rena thought. _'I hope you're right.'_


	16. Chapter 16

"Hi, my name is Rena, I will be your waitress for this afternoon," Rena said as she passed out the menus to her customers.

Nanase was serving a table nearby and overheard Rena. It'd been two days since Guy, Cody, and Haggar left to search for Jessica, but she noticed the dramatic change in Rena. All she would really do is mope around just thinking about Guy. Usually, when Rena worked, she would have a bright smile on her face whenever she introduced herself to her customers sitting at her table. Now, that smile was pretty much gone.

 _'I should talk to her after our shifts end,'_ Nanase thought with a sigh. _'I don't want her feeling like this for days on end.'_

At five o'clock, Rena and Nanase's shifts ended. After getting into their regular clothes, the two women walked outside into the cold streets of Metro City.

"Is everything all right?" Nanase asked Rena.

Rena sighed loudly and looked up at the cloudy, dark sky. "I know it's been only two days since Guy left to search for Jessica, but it feels as though he's been missing for weeks. I'm really scared for him. Who knows what happened or will happen to Guy. I don't know if he's okay, if he's hurt... or even if he's... de..."

Nanase placed a hand on Rena's shoulder. "Don't think like that! You have to think positive about this. Guy is strong, brave, and smart, I'm pretty sure that he'll be all right. Yes, I am worried about my brother, but I always try to look on the bright side and know that he's fine and everything will be taken care of."

"Has he ever gone on missions like this?" Rena asked.

"A few times, yes," Nanase replied. "He's the 'chosen' one of the Bushin clan and it's his duty to make things right. But it hasn't been like this since Kairi disappeared. The difference was that Hokuto and I were involved."

"What happened?" Rena asked with interest.

Nanase took a deep breath. "It all happened three years ago just before we came to Metro City. Kairi just disappeared one day and no one was sure where he was. For two months, Guy, Hokuto, and I searched throughout Asia looking for clues for Kairi's whereabouts. Guy decided after a few weeks that he would go search for Kairi in the Western part of the world, and that's how he ended up in Metro City. Then, Hokuto and I heard about an event called the Street Fighter EX Tournament in Thailand and decided to participate just in case anyone knew anything about Kairi.

"Indeed, it was there that we found Kairi. There were scars on his body, including the one over his eye, so we knew that something happened. Hokuto tried to get through to him, but all he would mention about is that he desired more power. We sensed something evil in him, but we couldn't figure out exactly what it was. It also turned out that his memories were gone. He couldn't remember us at all and it upset Hokuto and I. Hokuto tried to fight him in the tournament hoping to get him back, but she was defeated. Then, something happened. A man we only know as 'Gouki' consumed Hokuto and made her evil. Later, I found out that she willing became evil so that she could defeat and save Kairi. From there, it was all up to me to save them and I knew it was going to be difficult, especially with my lack of training at the time.

"I was pretty lucky. Guy must've sensed trouble from Metro City because he came to Thailand. I told him everything that happened and he knew that we had to do something to save Kairi and Hokuto. One night, we sensed something nearby and we became face to face with both Kairi and Hokuto. I fought Hokuto while Guy fought Kairi. We figured that one way to get through to them was to tell them everything that has happened before Kairi disappeared. It took a while, but after a few screams and beatings, it was worth it. Hokuto broke into tears and started remembering everything. It took Guy a while to get through to Kairi, but when he did start remembering, he went down on his knees and screamed. The four of us sat at that spot that night to rest and we talked about a lot. The only thing Kairi doesn't remember is how he ended up in this mess in the first place. The last thing he remembered was walking home after training.

"We decided that maybe it was time to start something new. Guy suggested that going to Metro City would be good and that's how we ended up here."

Rena looked at Nanase after she finished the story. "I can't believe that happened to you guys."

"Yeah. It was tough, but the four of us have a special bond, especially after our parents died, and we got through it." Nanase sighed again. "Rena, we'll get through this as well. You, me, Hokuto, Kairi, Greg, Maki, and even Guy, Cody, Jessica and Haggar. They will find Jessica and bring justice against Mad Gear. Afterwards, we'll have a Christmas party at the dojo, all of us."

"I really do hope that Guy will be home in time for Christmas," Rena replied. "I don't know what I would do if he wasn't here for it."

\---

The dark clouds began to release a light drizzle down on to the streets of Metro City. Haggar, Guy, and Cody walk through a dark alley filled with carelessly discarded garbage and cardboard boxes.

"Let's rest here for a little bit," Haggar suggested sitting down on the ground. Guy and Cody sat on either side of the Metro City mayor.

"It's been two days," Cody said. "What if we never find Jessica?"

"Don't think like that," Guy replied. "We just have to hope for something, and eventually, we will find her."

That's when they heard footsteps in the ally. All three men slowly got up.

"Someone's here," said Haggar. They slowly walked towards where the footsteps were coming from. They entered another ally where there was a dim light shining down on the alley. The three of them spotted a pale man walking through it.

Haggar squinted his brown eyes. "I know that man. He was once arrested for a crime and it had something to do with the Mad Gear operation. I had him come to my office to explain to me about the organization, but I got nothing out of him."

"Doesn't seem like he's involved with Mad Gear," said Guy.

"Maybe we'll make them explain now," Cody said as he started to run towards the man.

Guy grabbed his arm just in time. "No! We have to slowly go up to him. If we run after him now, he'll see us easily and he'll run away before we even get a chance to talk to him."

"I bet you that we run a lot faster than this man," Cody said.

"Who's there?" they heard the man cry out.

Cody released himself from Guy's grasp and quickly ran after the man. The man tried to run away as soon as he saw Cody, but Cody was too fast for him and managed to tackle him down.

"I told you Guy!" Cody cried out.

Guy rolled his eyes as he and Haggar walk over to where Cody was holding the man down.

The man looked up at the other two. "Mayor Haggar?"

"It's good to see you again, Robert," Haggar said. "Now, there's something that the three of us here need to know."

"I told you," Robert said narrowing his eyes. "I know nothing about Mad Gear."

"I was told that you were part of the organization," Haggar said.

A small light hit Cody's blue eyes. He turned to the light and noticed a knife just an arm-length away. He reached for it, grabbed it, and brought it up to Robert's neck. "You better tell us or I'll fucking slice your neck open! My girlfriend's missing because of them and I want to know more about them so I can kick their asses!"

Guy looked down at Robert and noticed some blood beginning to trickle down the side of his neck.

"Listen," Haggar said. "If you just tell us, we won't take you to the police."

"Fine," Robert replied. "Just release me, please!"

"I don't think so," Cody said.

"At least bring the knife further away from his neck," Guy suggested. Cody growled and brought the knife a few inches away from Robert's neck. There was only a small gash, which was not life threatening.

"I used to be part of the organization, but a lot has changed since I left," Robert said. "I believe they're located in the Northern area of Metro City now and their leader is named Belger. His commanders are strong and if you're looking for your girlfriend, be cautious because those commanders can kill with no mercy."

"Thank you," Haggar said. "That's all we needed to know."

Cody released Robert from his grip and placed the knife on to his belt with the rest of his knives. He, Guy, and Haggar left the alley.

"The Northern area," said Guy. "How far is that from here?"

"Pretty far," Haggar answered. "It would take us a while to get there on foot. We might as well go to the nearest subway station and take the next subway to Northern Metro City."

"Let's go!" Cody cried. They began walking out of the ally.

Guy looked up at the dark, cloudy sky. The drizzle just stopped and left the streets a little bit damp. Rena appeared in his mind and for a moment, he only had thoughts of holding her and protecting her from harm.

 _'Hopefully, she's okay,'_ he thought with a sigh.


	17. Chapter 17

Cody brought Guy and Haggar to a subway, but unfortunately, he lead them to the one that took them to the south end of Metro City, far from their original destination, the north end. When they got off the subway, it was four o'clock in the morning. They went to a broken down part of the subway station where there were bums sleeping next to garbage pails lit by fires. Guy, Cody, and Haggar slept there and tried their best to ignore the rats crawling around nearby.

When they awoke, it was three in the afternoon. They immediately went back to the cold surface of the city, grabbed some food, and tried to talk to a couple of people to see if they know anything else about Mad Gear. Unfortunately, they found nothing.

When the sun had set, the three men began walking back towards the subway station hoping to take the next ride to the northern part of the city.

"This time, Cody," Guy said. "I choose the subway we take."

"Oh come on, Guy," Cody said. "I made a mistake last time."

"Cody," Haggar replied. "There were two subways when we arrived at the station last night and you lead us to the one that took us south. This time, we're going to take the subway that'll take us north."

Cody only sighed in reply, deciding not to argue about it.

They soon found the nearest station and walked down towards the subway. Guy looked at the schedule.

"The next train that'll take us north leaves in two minutes."

"Then let's catch it," Haggar replied. He and Cody followed Guy to the correct train and go in. They go towards the middle of the train and sat down. A minute later, the train began to move.

"It's been three days now, Haggar!" Cody said something, feeling some panic rise within his chest. "What if we never find her and Mad Gear did something-"

Guy slapped him across the face. "Must you ask that question every hour? You just got to have faith, Cody. Hopefully, Jessica is all right."

Cody narrowed his eyes at his friend. "Aren't you worried about Rena?"

Guy stayed silent for a minute. Then, he let out a sigh. "Of course, I am, Cody, but I know that she's safe, and my siblings are watching over her for me."

The three became silent. Guy looked out the window and thought about Rena again.

 _'Is she really all right?'_ he asked himself. Then he shook his head quickly. _'Get a grip, Guy. She's all right. Kairi and the others wouldn't let anything happen to her.'_

Just then, the train suddenly came to a quick halt, throwing everyone off their seats and on to the floor.

"Owe!" Cody cried rubbing his head. "What happened?"

"I don't know," said Haggar getting up. "But I have a bad feeling that it has something to do with Mad Gear."

"How can Mad Gear be involved in a train halt?" asked Guy.

Just before Haggar answered, the train door quickly popped off and landed on the ground. Two men jump into the subway. One man wore all blue and had long brown hair and a beard. The other one was tall and looked Jamaican with his hair all in braids and wore sunglasses over his eyes.

"Mad Gear is here!" the Jamaican said with an evil grin. "I want everybody to hand over anything worth money!"

Haggar stood up with an angry look on his face. "YOU! You were the one who was on my television!"

The Jamaican turned to Haggar and grinned even more. "Well, if it isn't the Mayor himself! Damnd's the name, I forgot to introduce myself when we first met."

Haggar raised a fist. "I swear if anything happened to my daughter..."

"Nonsense, Mr. Haggar," Damnd said. "There's no need to get angry. Jessica is alive as we speak... for now." Then, Damnd spotted Cody and Guy. "Well, I see that your daughter's boyfriend is here with you, along with a friend as well." He looked at the man who was with him. "Jake, get the one in the orange. I'll take care of the other two."

Cody and Haggar ran closer to Damnd. Guy got into his fighting stance as Jake walked over to him.

Jake laughed. "Nice outfit. So, you think that you're some ninja warrior or something?"

Guy narrowed his eyes. "At least I fight with honor."

"Ooo, that hurts," Jake answered with a sneer. He took out what looked like a sewer pipe. "Well, let's see how 'honorably' you fight, ninja."

Immediately, Jake began to run towards Guy. Guy stood there in his stance until Jake was an arm-length away. Then, Guy jumped in the air, put one leg out, and spun his body around in fast speedy.

" _Bushin Senpukyaku!_ " Guy cried out. He managed to hit Jake a few times in the face before he flew a few feet back and landed hard on the ground. Guy safely landed back on his feet and watched Jake slowly get up using the seats as a guide.

"Nice move, ninja," Jake said with a growl. He then ran towards him again. Guy stood there in his stance until Jake was at arm-length again. Guy took a step forward and threw a few punches in Jake's midsection and ended it with an uppercut to the jaw. Jake flew back and landed hard on the ground making him lose consciousness. Guy brushed his shirt.

"That was easy," he said. He ran over to where Cody and Haggar were fighting Damnd.

Cody threw a punch at Damnd, but he quickly stepped aside. "Ha! Too slow!"

Damnd jumped back, put his fingers in his mouth, and let out a whistle. Immediately, a few more Mad Gear thugs jumped into the subway and ran towards the three men.

"Well, he has backup," said Haggar.

He, Guy, and Cody took all of the thugs down with their techniques, which they only had to use once or twice on each of them. When all of the thugs were knocked out, Damnd let out a loud growl.

"Damn it! How could you have taken them down so easily?"

"They obviously don't know how to fight," said Guy.

"Now it's your turn to go down!" cried Cody narrowing his eyes at Damnd.

"Oh yeah?" Damnd said. He put his finger back in his mouth and whistled in a different tone. Someone came in the subway wearing a blue samurai helmet, an orange shirt with a Japanese symbol in the front, blue jeans, and white sneakers. In his hands were a pair of sais.

"Who the hell is this?" asked Cody raising an eyebrow.

"This here is my pal, Sodom," said Damnd.

"I, Orochi Samurai!" Sodom cried out.

It was Guy's turn to raise an eyebrow. "Um, okay then." He then got into a fighting stance. "I'll take care of the samurai. You two take care of Damnd."

"Okay," said Haggar as he and Cody ran over to Damnd.

"Sodom will kill you now," Sodom said running over to Guy. Guy ran towards him as well and when the two were in reach, they threw their own maneuvers at each other. At one point, Guy managed to knock Sodom's weapons out of his hands, making him angry. He then grabbed for Guy and tried to overpower him.

Haggar got to Damnd first and began throwing series of punches at him. Damnd only dodged them, but didn't see Cody coming from behind. Cody jumped in the air and performed a kick to Damnd's head. Damnd only stumbled forward a bit, then turned his head towards Cody.

"You think that was supposed to hurt?" Damnd asked sneering. He ran over to Cody and tried to punch him, but Cody immediately blocked the move. It gave Haggar a chance to strike. He ran over to Damnd and head-butted him right in the back of the head. Damnd fell forward and crashed to the ground unconscious.

Cody looked up at Haggar. "Did that hurt?"

Haggar rubbed his forehead. "I've done that so much in my wrestling days. No, it didn't."

Meanwhile, Guy was still trying to use his strength to take Sodom down as the latter tried to do the same as well. Guy then started to feel himself going down on his knee.

"Sodom overpowering you," Sodom said. "You shall die."

"I don't think so," Guy said. He pulled his arms quickly towards each side causing Sodom to lose his balance. Guy jumped up and kneed him in the stomach, then bent down and performed a sweep kick knocking Sodom off his feet and sending him crashing to the floor weakening him.

Guy took out a chain and quickly tied Sodom's hands together. Cody and Haggar walk up to him.

"Someone here called the police," said Haggar. "They should be here any minute."

"We can't waste time," Cody said. "We have to find Jessica." He began to run towards the door, but Guy grabbed him by the arm.

"Wait," he said. "Maybe we can get some information from these guys. Unfortunately, Damnd's knocked out." Guy looked at Sodom. "Maybe this guy would talk."

Cody nodded and immediately walked over to Sodom, grabbed him by the shirt and pulled him up. "Where is Belger holding Jessica?" He took out his butcher knife and held it to Sodom's throat. "Tell me!"

 _'Not again,'_ Guy thought.

Sodom began speaking in Japanese. Cody looked at him with confusion.

"Speak English, damn it!" Cody cried.

"Too late," Sodom said. "Sodom told you."

"Heh," Guy said, almost laughing. "He said Jessica is being held in an area called Uptown."

"Hey!" Sodom cried. "How you know Japanese?"

"I _am_ Japanese, you idiot," Guy answered, nearly rolling his eyes.

"The Uptown is the Northeast part of northern Metro City," said Haggar. "That narrows it down a little bit."

Cody threw Sodom back on to the ground and put his knife away. "Well, let's go." He began running out of the subway.

"Hold up!" Haggar cried. He looked over at Guy. "I just wish Cody wasn't such a hothead."

Guy nodded in agreement. They followed Cody out of the subway and down the track towards the next station.

\---

_Rena was running down a dark alley in her pajamas. She could've sworn that she heard a noise not too far._

__'I wonder what's happening,' _she thought._

_She ran closer to the noise until she spotted a group of people. She ran towards them. Then, she stopped in her tracks and gasped in horror as she saw both Cody and Haggar lying on the dirty ground dead._

_"Cody! Mr. Haggar!" Rena cried. She was surprised that no one turned around to her. She ran over to Cody, but before she could bend down to him, she looked up and, to her terror, saw Guy being held by a couple of thugs. Another thug was holding a gun to Guy's chest._

_"Let me go!" Guy cried._

_"Not until you tell us what you're up to," the thug with the gun asked._

_Guy kept his mouth closed and narrowed his eyes at the thug._

_The thug laughed. "Have it your way then."_

_"GUY!" Rena shouted and began running towards him. Then, she let out a horrifying scream as the thug pulled the trigger, the bullet piercing through Guy's head... killing him._

_Rena managed to catch him in her arms. She looked down at him and saw that he was dead. She looked up, but all of the thugs were gone._

_Rena could only scream with terror as she held Guy's body close to hers…_

…Rena shot up from her bed screaming out Guy's name. Then, she realized that she was back in her room in her bed. She breathed heavily and she could feel sweat pouring down her face.

Also pouring down her face were tears.

She drew her knees to her chest and wrapped her arms around her legs. She bowed her head down and quietly sobbed. Indeed it was a horrible nightmare.

 _'Why couldn't I dream of something good?'_ she asked herself. _'Something that would give me hope and let me know that Guy, Cody, and Haggar are all right.'_

She tried to forget about the dream and tried to think positive, but the terror she felt from the nightmare wouldn't allow her to even fall back asleep.

It was then that she heard a crash from the kitchen. Rena quickly looked up.

_'Maki?'_

She slowly got up from her bed and walk out of her room and into the kitchen. She raised an eyebrow when she saw no one in the kitchen. She looked around and saw that everything was in place.

"Maki?"

Suddenly, someone grabbed her around the waist from behind her and pulled her back. Rena let out a short scream and tried to struggle out of the person's grip. Then, two other people jumped from behind the counter and grabbed her. The person behind her placed a cloth over her mouth and she ended up breathing in the chemicals from the fabric. Guy was the last person on her mind before her body went limp as she lost consciousness.


	18. Chapter 18

_One Week Before Christmas..._

"Hello Nanase," said Mr. Hsu as Nanase entered Ming's restaurant the next day.

Nanase looked up at him. "Hi, Mr. Hsu. How are you?"

"I'm all right," Mr. Hsu sighed.

Nanase raised an eyebrow with worry. "Is something wrong?"

"Sort of," Mr. Hsu answered. "It's just that Rena was supposed to be here an hour ago. I called her apartment, but no one's answering. I figured maybe she thought she was working the same hours as you and I hoped that she would come in with you, but apparently she's not with you. When was the last time you spoke to her?"

"Last night at the dojo a few blocks away," Nanase replied. "She's still trying to cope with my brother leaving to look for Mayor Haggar's daughter, but she seems to be doing a little bit better each day."

"Then I wonder why she didn't show up to work today," Mr. Hsu wondered.

"I know her sister has a cell phone," Nanase said. "Do you want me to call her sister to see if she knows what happened to Rena?"

"Sure," Mr. Hsu replied. "We're not busy at the moment any ways."

Nanase walked to the back of the restaurant. She took out her own cell phone and searched through the number directory on her phone. She finds Maki's number and pressed 'enter.' Immediately, her cell dialed Maki's cell number.

However, after a few rings, there was no answer and it went straight to her answering machine. Nanase, sighed and decided to try back later.

Throughout the day, Nanase kept herself busy with her job. As much as she tried, she couldn't help but worry about Rena. _'It's not like her to not show up to work,'_ she thought. _'I imagined she would at least call out if something was up.'_

By the end of her shift, Nanase went to call Maki again. However, before she had the chance to dial, her phone rang. Seeing who it was, she was relieved to see that it was Maki who was calling.

She immediately answered. "Maki?"

"Nanase!" Maki said. "Something happened last night. Damn it, and I didn't notice anything was wrong until I got home."

Nanase felt her heart jump to her throat, noting how upset Maki sounded. "What's wrong?"

"It's Rena," Maki replied. "When I left home this morning, I thought she had the day off and was sleeping in her room. I got home ten minutes ago and saw a note. Nanase, the note is from Mad Gear! They kidnapped Rena!"

Nanase gasped upon hearing that. "What?! Where are you?!"

"I'm at my apartment!"

"Okay, just stay there, I'm coming right away."

Quickly hanging up her phone, Nanase started sprinting out of the restaurant and into the streets of Metro City. She was very grateful to have chosen to wear flat shoes today.

Ten minutes later, she managed to reach Rena and Maki's apartment. The door was slightly ajar and she went inside.

In the living room, Maki noticed Nanase coming in, tears staining her face. She also held a piece of paper in her hand.

"Did you call the police?" Nanase asked.

"There's no point considering they're in Mad Gear's pocket," Maki said as she handed the younger woman the note. Nanase briefly read through it;

**We have Rena. We know that her boyfriend is helping the Mayor search for his daughter. Cease searching and we will let Rena go alive. You have been warned.**

More tears fell down Maki's face as she looked over at Nanase. "What are we going to do?"

"We're going to have to tell the others," Nanase said. "Kairi and Hokuto should be home from work by now. Then, we'll go down to the dojo. I'm sure Kyle will be there."

An hour later, everyone met up at the dojo and went into the back. Nanase told everyone about Rena.

"WHAT?" Kairi cried out in shock. "I could understand how Mad Gear wants Jessica, but Rena?"

"She's Guy's girlfriend and it's for pay back for helping Haggar and Cody out," said Maki, showing them the note that was left behind. "But then again… someone attacked her in the apartment once before and he was from Mad Gear. Even despite their current reasoning, something tells me that they wanted her for a while."

"I wonder if Guy, Cody, and Haggar know about this," Hokuto wondered. "I just wish that there was a way for us to contact them."

Then, to everyone's surprise, Kyle stood up. "Then let's go help them!"

"We can't," said Hokuto. "They told us to stay here."

"No!" Kyle cried out, smoothing back his short blond hair. "I can't just sit around anymore and wait to see if the girls will be saved or not! Maybe Guy, Cody, and Haggar don't know a thing about Rena! Since we know, it's up to us to go out there and save her! Metro City is a big city, and it could be weeks before she's found! It'll just be the five of us, and if we happen to unite with them, then we will! I feel like a bum just waiting!"

Kairi stood up as well. "For once Kyle, you have a point. I'm with you on this one!"

"Me too!" Maki said. "This is my sister we're talking about!"

"Count me in," Nanase said.

"Same here!" said Hokuto.

"Good," Kyle said. "Then we're all in on this."

"One problem, Kyle," Kairi said. "You don't have as much training as your brother."

"I don't give a crap," Kyle replied. "I'd rather die an inexperienced fighter trying to save Rena and Jessica than sit on my ass here waiting to see what happens."

"That's the spirit!" cried Hokuto.

"So let's go out there and help our brother and friends!" said Kairi.

"Yeah!" cried everyone.

A few minutes later, everyone walked out the dojo in their respective fighting uniform.

"Let's go," said Kairi. He began walking down the streets of Metro City. His sisters and friends follow him.

\---

_Later that night; Metro City Bay Park_

Guy, Cody, and Haggar walked through the park near the Northeastern area of Metro City. "Hard to believe it took us twenty-four hours to get here," said Guy.

"Well, it took us a while to get out of the subway," said Haggar. "Especially since we almost got hit by one that, once again, took us South. We slept down there again and woke up late and began walking towards here."

"You don't have to tell us that whole thing," said Cody.

That's when they noticed a group of people crowded not too far from them.

"Want to see what's going on over there?" asked Cody.

"Fine by us," replied Guy.

The three of them walked over to the crowd. They noticed that some of them have multi-colored hair and a couple of them also had capes on.

Then, one of them turned around and spotted the three. "Look! It's the Mayor and the two other punks," he said with an evil grin.

The three of them immediately stood in their fighting stances. "Yup, there's more of Mad Gear," said Cody.

Immediately, the thugs ran over to them, their fists and weapons ready. As each one went up to the three, they were knocked down after two to four punches or kicks. After a few minutes, all of them were knocked out.

"Belger sure hired some crappy fighters," said Cody.

That's when they heard a maniacal laugh coming from behind them. They turned around and saw a tall man with an evil grin coming towards them.

"You took down my men pretty easily, I'm impressed," he said.

"And who are you?" Haggar asked.

"The name's Abigail. And yes, I am a member of Mad Gear."

"Where's Jessica?" Cody demanded, his eyes narrowed.

Abigail laughed. "I'm not sure where Jessica is, but I'm pretty sure that wherever she is, she is having a very good time with Belger."

Guy immediately turned his head to Cody and Haggar.

"You asshole!" yelled Haggar.

Cody quickly took out a knife. "I'll cut your tongue for that!" Then, he sprinted over towards Abigail.

Abigail waited until Cody was an arm-length away. He quickly picked him up by his shirt. Cody was shocked by this and dropped his knife.

"Have a nice flight!" Abigail said and tossed Cody into the air. Cody screamed until he crashed into a bench, breaking it. Then, he rolled on to the ground and groaned in pain.

"Cody!" cried Haggar.

Abigail laughed again and he turned his head to Guy. "You know, as a matter of fact, Belger is probably having double the fun... with Rena as well."

As soon as those words escaped Abigail's mouth, it seemed as if a baseball bat smacked Guy hard into his stomach.

 _'NO! RENA!'_ Guy screamed inside his head. Anger filled his heart as he tightened his fists. "What have you done to her?" Guy demanded.

"Nothing yet," Abigail replied. "Ever since our Mad Gear crew laid eyes on her a few weeks ago, we knew that we wanted her with us. We could've had her then, but then you came along and saved her... twice. Now that you're on this mission, it was the perfect time to take her."

"So why do you want her to become a member of Mad Gear?" asked Haggar.

Abigail sneered. "No, we don't want her to be an official member of Mad Gear. We want her for… our own personal endeavor."

Guy clenched his teeth tightly. "You sick bastards! I'll take you all down before any of you touch her!"

"I'd like to see you try," Abigail said and held up his fists.

Guy leaned forward and then started running towards Abigail in fast speed.

"Guy, no!" Haggar cried out, knowing that the Bushin warrior would end up fighting Abigail with rage. He began running after him.

Guy jumped up, his right foot extended out. Abigail immediately grabbed him by his leg and swung him back. Guy flew away from Abigail and crashed into a big tree. He did his best to ignore the pain as he tried to get up.

Haggar got closer to Abigail. Abigail tried to wrap his arms around him, but Haggar managed to duck under and tackled him down to the ground. The two of them rolled around and tried to throw punches and kicks at each other.

Cody slowly got up and saw the fight between Haggar and Abigail. He got to his feet and ran towards then.

Haggar managed to tackle Abigail and held him down. "Where's Belger's hideout?!"

Abigail turned around and spitted blood at Haggar's face. "I don't know."

"You better tell me or I'll-"

That's when Cody came by and swung his arms. A cyclone quickly formed knocking Haggar to the ground and sending Abigail into the air.

Cody jumped in the air and grabbed Abigail. "This is for almost giving me a concussion!" Cody cried. He got on top of Abigail and put his foot on his stomach. As they fell back towards the Earth, Cody extended the foot on Abigail's stomach sending them both flying down in high speed. As soon as they landed, Abigail cried out in pain as he felt the pain between landing on the pavement and feeling Cody's foot digging into his stomach.

Cody kept his foot there for a few seconds before jumping off. Abigail curled up into the ball and held on to his stomach. Cody brushed himself off as they heard police cars coming closer.

"Let's go," Haggar said getting up. They began running towards the other side of the park with Guy following them. When they were far enough, they stopped running.

Haggar immediately turned to Guy and put a hand on his shoulder. "Don't worry Guy, we'll-"

Guy brushed Haggar's hand off of his shoulder. "I need to clear my mind for a few minutes," he said. He began walking towards the Metro City bay.

When he was out of earshot, Cody walked over to Haggar. "What's wrong with him?"

Haggar turned to him. "Mad Gear has Rena. Abigail told her. Come on Cody, let's rest for a while. He wants some time to himself."

Cody nodded and the two walked over to a nearby bench.

Guy looked down at the bay. For the first time since he was a young teen running around the streets after the death of his parents, he felt a kind of anger that he knew he could hardly control. It was the kind of anger he used to feel for so long until he learned the Bushin arts, the training greatly helping keep his cool. Despite how he was feeling at this moment, he knew that he was going to have to go much deeper than his training in order to focus on the mission at hand… for her sake.

 _'Don't worry Rena,'_ he thought. _'I'll find you before those bastards hurt you.'_


	19. Chapter 19

"Do you think it's around here?" asked Kyle as he looked around the city.

"The Mad Gear hideout?" replied Maki. "Well, we got a tip from that old man last night that their hideout was somewhere in the Northeast part of Metro City."

"And this is it," said Kairi pointing around the city.

Only a day had gone by since Kairi, Maki, Kyle, Hokuto, and Nanase decided to help look for Rena and Jessica. The sun was beginning to set after a long day of searching around and asking people around for clues about Mad Gear's whereabouts.

They were walking down an alley filled with garbage disposals and old boxes. Stray cats walked around the area hunting for food.

"This place is pretty gross," said Hokuto, pinching her nose together to avoid smelling the horrible stench.

"That's how all alleys are," Maki replied.

That's when the five heard a commotion not too far up.

"Quick," said Kairi as he hid behind some boxes. The others followed him as a group of people emerged from a corner. Kairi put his ear out to try to hear the conversation from the group.

"So what's up tonight?" one of them said.

"Well," replied another one. "The boss wanted us to meet the girl who came in the other night. Let's go down there and see her."

"A boss?" Kairi heard Kyle whisper. "Do you think its Mad Gear?"

"I don't know," Kairi replied and peered over the boxes. He couldn't see the faces of the men, but he noticed that one of them wore a police uniform.

"Maybe a police chief," Kairi concluded. "There's a cop over there. Let's go and see if he knows anything about Mad Gear."

"All right," said Nanase getting up. The others got up as well and walked over to the cop.

"Excuse me," said Hokuto.

The officer turned to the group. "Yes?"

"We were wondering if you know anything about Mad Gear," said Kyle.

"Hey Edi-E," one of the men in the group said, looking at the cop. "The blondie wants to know if we know anything about Mad Gear."

"I know that, Sid," Edi-E answered. He turned back to the five. "Listen, you shouldn't be snooping around trying to find out information about Mad Gear." He grinned at them. "It could be dangerous."

"Oh yeah?" said Nanase.

"Yeah," said Sid. "You never know who you could be talking to. They can be a member of Mad Gear as well and kill you. It could even happen this very minute."

Kairi narrowed his eyes. "Then let's dance," he said and raised his fists.

Edi-E took out his gun and pointed it to the five. "I'm afraid that I'll have to kill you all. Who knows what you've heard about us."

"Sad," said Kyle, raising his fists. "Even a cop joined Mad Gear."

"Quiet!" Edi-E cried out and pointed his gun at Kyle.

"Listen," said Maki. "We know that Mad Gear has the Mayor's daughter and my sister!"

"And you expect us to tell you where they are?" Sid sneered. "I don't think so."

Sid raised his fists along with the three other thugs around them.

"Oh good," said Nanase taking out her staff. "Five against five, that's a fair deal."

Hokuto took out her staff as well and Maki got into her stance with her batons ready.

"I have the cop," said Kairi. "The rest of you take down whoever you want."

Sid walked over to Kyle with his fists up. "Let's see how you fight, blondie."

Kyle smirked at him and tightened his fists. Sid began running over to him. When he was close enough, Kyle threw a quick punch at his face, followed by a knee-blow to Sid's stomach and then elbowed him to the face again knocking him out. Sid's body rolled back a few times before it hit the brick wall.

"Dude," Kyle said. "I'm a beginner and I take you down so easily. Even my Great-Aunt Dorothy can take you down with one blow and she's dead."

Hokuto looked at her opponent. His hair was all colored blue and he wore black sunglasses.

"Let's see what you got there, honey," he said with a sneer.

He began running towards her. Hokuto pushed the tip of her staff into the ground. She grabbed on to the top and swung her body towards him connecting her feet to his chest. The man stepped a few feet back but regained his balance. Hokuto then landed on her feet just next to him and swung her staff hard into the man's head, causing him to lose consciousness.

Nanase's opponent began running towards her. She swung her staff at him, but he managed to catch it in his hands. He began tugging at it to pull her towards him, but then she let go causing him to tumble back. She ran over to him as he got up. She threw a couple of punches at him before landing the last one to the face. The man fell back again and hit the garbage cans knocking him out.

"Why are they so easy to beat?" Nanase asked herself as she picked her staff up from the ground.

'Here we go,' Maki thought as her opponent ran over to him with his fist in the air. When he was close enough, he threw a punch at Maki, but she managed to block the move. Then, she bended down and elbowed the man into the stomach. Then, she swung her baton to the man's chest, and followed it with a hard kick to the face sending the man flying into the air. He lost consciousness when he landed hard on to the ground.

Kairi looked at Edi-E with his brown eye narrowed. Edi-E kept his gun pointed at him.

"Just let me give you one blow to the head," Edi-E said. "Then it'll be over."

"Yeah right," Kairi said and began running over to him.

Edi-E began firing his gun at Kairi, but he would dodge out of the way quickly and performed a couple of forward flips to get closer to him. When he was close, Kairi jumped into the air and kicked Edi-E's gun out of his hands. Then, he threw another kick at Edi-E's shoulder. Edi-E tried to grab him, but Kairi managed to jump back down to the ground before he reached him.

"You little punk!" Edi-E cried and ran after him. Kairi jumped up to Edi- E's large height and threw a couple of powerful punches at his face, then delivered a kick to the head, causing him to stumble over and fell flat on his face, weakened.

Kyle grabbed Edi-E's gun, walked over to him, and pointed it to the Mad Gear cop. "Where are Rena and Jessica?"

Edi-E looked up in fright. "Please don't shoot! Honestly, I don't know where Belger is holding Rena, but I know Jessica is in that building." He pointed to the brown building next to them. "But they're going to kill-"

That's when they hear a loud scream coming from a female.

"Jessica!" cried Hokuto.

\---

"Finally," said Cody. "The Northeast area."

"Yeah," said Haggar. "But don't forget, it may be a big part of Metro City down, but the Northeast area is still a big area."

"Right," Cody replied.

The two of them and Guy have finally made it to their destination. Now all there was left to do is to find the building that was the main Mad Gear hideout. They walked around what looked like the industrial area. Since finding out that Rena was in the hands of Mad Gear, Guy had been quiet and hasn't spoken much.

Haggar turned his heard towards the Bushin ninja. "You all right there, Guy?"

Guy shook his head quickly. "Um, yeah, I'm fine."

Cody turned to his best friend and placed a hand on his shoulder. "Don't worry, Guy, we'll find her."

That's when they heard someone in a German accent say, "Like you ever will find her."

The three of them turned around and saw a man about Guy's height standing in front of them. He wore a red beret on his head, a yellow military-like uniform, and black knee-high combat boots. In his hand was a black baton.

"And who are you?" asked Cody, narrowing his eyes.

"The name's Rolento," the man said. "And I'm afraid that I can't let you though here."

"Why not?" Guy asked, raising his fists.

"Because you're a threat to Mad Gear's operations," Rolento replied. He quickly began to twirl his baton around. Then he jumped into the air, planted his feet against the wall, and darted towards them.

The three of the jumped out of the way as Rolento swung his baton down and ended up hitting the ground. Haggar came from behind him and kicked him on to the ground. Before he made another move, Rolento moved out of the way.

"Damn, he's fast!" Cody cried out. Rolento jumped into the air and darted after them again.

Guy jumped into the air, put his leg out. He began spinning around and hitting Rolento multiple times.

" _Bushin Senpukyaku!_ " he cried out. Rolento fell back to the ground hard as Guy landed down on his two feet. Rolento slowly got up.

"Nice move," Rolento said. "But that won't be enough to take me down!"

"We'll see about that," said Cody taking out his knife and throwing it at Rolento. Rolento jumped over it and darted towards them again.

Haggar put both arms out from either side of his body and spun around quickly hitting Rolento multiple times.

As Rolento landed on the ground, they heard a loud female scream from nearby. Everyone turned to the noise and see a blond female in a red dress being dragged out of a brown building by a Mad Gear gang member, a knife in his hand behind her.

Cody's blue eyes widened with horror at the sight. "JESSICA!" he cried out and ran over to where she was. The gang member noticed and was just beginning to raise his knife up before Cody pulled out his own weapon and threw it at him. Just in time, the knife embedded into the Mad Gear member's chest, killing him as he fell to the ground.

Kairi, Hokuto, Nanase, Maki, and Kyle ran out of the alley just in time to see Jessica fall into Cody's arms.

Jessica looked up at her hero. "Cody!" she cried and hugged him, tears falling out of her eyes as she buried her face into his shoulders.

Rolento slowly got up, then ran towards them again. By then, Guy was prepared with a kunai in hand and when Rolento was close enough, he turned around and slashed his face with it. Rolento yelled out as the pain hit him, but didn't have time to comprehend the fact that Guy scarred him for life before Haggar punched him from behind, knocking him out cold.

"Jessica!" Haggar cried afterwards, running over to his daughter.

Jessica looked up to see her father running towards her. "Daddy!" she cried and ran over to him. They embraced as soon as they reached each other.

Kairi looked up at the building Jessica came from. "This is one of the Mad Gear hideouts."

Nanase looked over at Guy who looked up at the building. "Guy..."

"I know," Guy replied. "They have Rena. She's got to be in there."

He began running towards the building, but then Jessica spoke up. "Guy, wait! Rena's not in there."

Guy turned to Jessica who walked a couple of feet over to him. "She's at the main hideout in a pink building on 52nd Street. Belger is there and he's the one who has her."

"Then who was those guy who dragged you out?" asked Kairi.

"A Mad Gear operative," Jessica replied. "They were holding me here and Belger had just ordered them to kill me. I wasn't sure where he was taking me, but you guys showed up just in time!"

"Thank you for the information, Jessica," Guy said.

"Before we get going," said Haggar. "I want Kyle to take Jessica back to my office. I'll call the head security there to make sure that she is safe."

"All right then," said Kyle despite his reluctance to leave his friends. He turned back to his friends. "Be careful everyone."

"We will," said Nanase.

Cody turned to Kairi. "Didn't Haggar tell you guys to stay put?"

"Yeah," said Kairi. "But after Rena was abducted, we felt the need to help."

After a minute, Jessica and Kyle said their farewells to their friends before departing to the next train ride to Haggar's office, where the security guards there would keep them both safe.

"My little brother better get her back safe," said Cody. "Or I'll personally disown him as a relative."

"Let's go," said Guy. "We can't waste an more time, we still have Rena to save."

"You're right," Nanase said. "Let's go."

The group began running towards the direction where 52nd Street was located.


	20. Chapter 20

"There it is," said Kairi pointing to a one hundred story pink building on 52nd Street. "Mad Gear's main hideout."

He, Guy, Cody, Haggar, Nanase, Hokuto, and Maki spent ten minutes running towards the building. Jessica was now safe from the hands of Mad Gear and was now at Haggar's office with Kyle. Now all they had to do was save Rena from them.

"Some building," said Cody. "You would've never thought it was one of their hideouts, especially since its pink."

"Looks can be deceiving," said Hokuto. She looked at Guy. "Let's go save Rena."

Guy cracked his knuckles a couple of times. "I'm been ready."

They took a couple of steps towards the building and noticed a couple of guards standing by the door.

"I'll take care of them," said Haggar. He casually walked over to the two guards. Just before they raised their guns, Haggar took them both by their shirts and slammed them into each other, knocking them both out. Haggar let go of their shirts and let them drop to the floor.

"Way to go," said Nanase.

All seven of them ran into the building with Haggar leading the way.

"Where do you think Belger has Rena?" asked Maki.

"My guess," replied Guy. "The top floor."

The seven of them stood in the middle of the ground floor of the building and looked around. Haggar spotted a door with a sign saying 'Stairs.'

Then, a bunch of Mad Gear members pop out from different directions and surrounded them.

"Great," said Kairi. "Now what?"

"Guy, Maki," said Haggar. "You guys go ahead, we'll take care of these goons."

"Are you sure?" asked Maki wondering if he and the other four will be able to fight the Mad Gear off.

"Yes, I'm sure. Go!"

The Mad Gear jumped in. Maki quickly twirled her baton to knock the ones in front of her out of her way. Guy threw punches and kicks at them to clear a path for himself.

"With those stairs," said Maki. "I'm sure I'll be getting some good exercise."

"But it'll be worth it," Guy answered. "Plus we can't risk the elevator. There's a good chance they'll sabotage it if they haven't already."

Guy opened the door to the stairs and the two of them began running up towards the 100th floor.

Nanase tripped some of the members down to the ground with her staff before she looked over at Haggar. "What do we do now? There's too many of them, I don't think the five of us can fight them all."

"We'll have to make our way up," Haggar replied. "And fight them off at the same time. It'll take a while, but we can do it!"

"All right then," said Kairi, feeling assured.

They began fighting their way up and tried to reach the 100th floor of the building.

After a while of running, Guy and Maki reached the 45th floor. They were beginning to run out of breath, but they were not willing to give up so easily, not when they're so close to saving Rena.

Suddenly, the door to the 45th floor burst opened, stopping Guy and Maki in their tracks.

"Now what?" Guy asked with one eyebrow raised.

Then, two people walked through the door, a man and a woman. The man was very tall and largely built with curly shoulder-length black hair. He wore what looked like a purple wrestling uniform. The woman with him was Maki's height with long, pink hair with a blue military cap on top. She wore short jeans with the button opened and a white mid-drift shirt.

"Greetings," the woman said. "And what are you intruders doing here?"

"Out of my way," said Guy. "I don't have time for this."

The woman stepped in front of him. "I don't think so, honey. Andore and Poison will stop at nothing to make sure that you intruders will be exterminated."

Maki raised her fists in front of Poison. "Then bring it on."

"Same here," Guy replied. He raised his fists and stared at Andore.

"Fine then," Poison said raising her own fists. "But don't expect to win."

She immediately darted at Maki, raised her leg, and swung it towards Maki's side. Maki ducked and took a couple of steps forward, spinning her body 180 degrees, and then landed her elbow into Poison's stomach. Poison pulled back holding on to her stomach. After a second, she ran back towards Maki who was ready for her.

Guy looked at Andore who cracked his knuckles a couple of times. "Get ready to be crushed like a bug."

Guy only narrowed his eyes in reply.

Andore only had to take two big steps before his was close enough to throw a punch at Guy. Guy pulled back, the fist only being an inch away from his face. Then, Andore threw another punch, but Guy bended his knees and the fist went over his head.

Just as Guy was straightening himself back up, Andore grabbed him from his wrists, but he managed to quickly slip out of them using the thinnest part of his wrists to go through Andore's thumb and index finger. Then, Guy landed his heel into Andore's gut sending the giant to the opposite wall. He stood in his stance at Andore slowly got up, his teeth clenched with rage.

"Come on, honey," Poison said to Maki. "Give it up. You know you can't win."

"You know," Maki said with a smirk. "When one is over-confident about anything, they wind up losing."

Poison growled and quickly ran towards her. Maki was ready as Poison threw a few punches and uppercuts at her. Maki blocked and ducked out of the way. Then, she twirled her baton in a fast pace and managed to hit Poison a few times in the face. Again, she backed up, but just before she recovered, Maki planted her baton on to the group and clutched it tighter. She jumped off the ground using her baton for balance and spun her body around in fast speed hitting Poison multiple times. With a final kick, Maki sent Poison flying backwards.

Andore ran over to Guy again and tried to grab him. Guy stepped to the side and threw another punch at him. Andore blocked, but then Guy ducked down and slid his body, with his foot pointed out, towards Andore's ankles. With his toes, he struck his ankles sending him falling to the ground. As Andore fell forward, Guy jumped back up and brought his legs forward, performing a backward flip, and stuck Andore in the chin sending him flying back. Guy landed safely on his two feet.

Guy and Maki watched as Poison and Andore slammed into each other back to back. They land on the ground, both now unconscious.

The two looked at each other. "Well," said Maki. "That takes care of that."

"Let's get going," Guy answered. He led the way again as he and Maki made their way upstairs.

\---

A man in a wheelchair looked out the window. From behind him, he could hear one of his guards coming up to him.

"What is it?" the man demanded with a bit of harshness in his voice.

"Belger, sir," the guard said. "There are some intruders coming up this way."

Belger turned to the guard. "Guard the door and make sure they don't get into this room alive."

"Yes, sir," the guard said as he walked away and towards the door.

Belger looked to his right and spotted a young, Japanese woman in a chair, tied up. Her mouth was sealed with duct tape.

Belger smirked at the woman. "Well, looks like we'll be having some entertainment today, huh?"

The woman only narrowed her eyes.

Suddenly, the door swung opened fast. The two guards who stood by the door raised their guns, but the two intruders managed to kick their guns out of their hands and knocked them out with one punch.

Belger growled as he looked at the two intruders, and Rena's eyes widened as she recognized both her boyfriend and her sister.

Guy looked over at the Japanese woman and gasped, "Rena!"

Rena could only reply with a muffle as Guy ran over to her. Suddenly, two other Mad Gear members blocked him.

Guy growled at them. "Get out of my way!"

"I don't think so," Belger said wheeling his electric wheelchair towards them. "I'm afraid that Mad Gear is going to have to kill you. I don't know how two of you managed to get through everyone, but that doesn't matter anymore. What matters is your death."

Suddenly, someone from Mad Gear was thrown into the room. He appeared to be unconscious. They turned to who threw the man in.

Guy smiled. "Kairi."

Kairi dusted himself off. "Man, you guys have some lousy members." He walked into the room, followed by Haggar, Cody, Hokuto, and Nanase.

"I see," Belger said. "Now I see how the two of you managed to get through... there were seven of you. And now, seven of you will die."

"Not a chance," Cody said. "Mad Gear's operatives will end today and Metro City will be free from your grasps."

One of the men walked over to Rena. He took out a knife and placed it over Rena's neck. Rena's eyes widened with fear.

"RENA!" Maki cried out.

"Let her go!" Guy demanded his fists once again raised up in front of him.

"I don't think so," Belger said. "And don't worry, as soon as we kill you, well kill Rena as well." He looked at Guy. "Well, maybe we'll spare your life for a few more minutes, just so you can see the death of your girlfriend."

Guy only narrowed his eyes in response.

Belger pointed to the seven friends. "ATTACK!"


	21. Chapter 21

Guy, Cody, Haggar, Kairi, Hokuto, Nanase, and Maki stood in front of Belger and his Mad Gear gang. One of them went up to Rena from behind, took out a knife, and held it by her throat.

"RENA!" Maki cried out. Her heart broke as she saw the fear in her sister's eyes.

"Let her go!" Guy demanded, his own brown eyes filled with rage.

"I don't think so," Belger sneered. "As soon as we kill you all, we will kill Rena as well." He looked at Guy. "Well, maybe we'll let you live long enough to watch her die."

Guy only growled and narrowed his eyes in response.

Belger pointed to the seven friends. "ATTACK!" he cried out. The Mad Gear gang began running after them.

"This will be quick," Cody said as he elbowed one of the men in the face. The man held his face in pain as he reared back.

Maki spun her baton knocking the men out of her way. Then, she performed a roundhouse kick, jumping into the air and twisting her body into a circle with one left extended out. She connected her foot into one of the men's head knocking him out.

Hokuto twisted her body along with her staff and she hit every man who came close to her. One of them tried to throw a punch at her, but she managed to duck out of the way. While she was still crouched down, she performed a sweep kick tripping the man down to the ground.

Nanase shot her staff forward, stabbing one of the men at the stomach and knocking the wind out of him. Then, she turned her staff sideways hitting more men coming from her left side. At the same time, another man came from her right. She extended her right leg back and managed to hit that man in the chest. He flew back towards the opposite wall.

Kairi extended his leg out and his heel hit one of the men in the face. More men came from behind him and he elbowed two of them in the face, then lifted both of his fists up and smacked both of them in the nose. As they pulled themselves back, Kairi managed to grab both of them by the shirt and threw them over his head. The two men knocked the men coming towards the front of Kairi.

Haggar threw as many punches as he could at every Mad Gear member who came close to him. Soon, there were too many for him to handle as once. He did the one thing that he could do to defend himself from being overpowered. He extended both of his arms to his side and rapidly began spinning himself around knocking down all of the men who came near his large fists.

Cody kneed one of the members in the stomach, then followed with his elbow once again slamming into another one's face. A couple of them threw knives at him, but Cody saw them and dodged out of the way of them. He lifted his right foot and extended it forward knocking another man down. Then, he slid his body and used it to knock down a few more in front of him.

Guy jumped up and flipped backwards, hitting one of the men in the chin with his feet. He landed back on his feet. Another man came from behind and he elbowed him in the ribs, breaking two of them. Then, he slightly jumped in the air and spun his body a few time with his left leg extended out, hitting the men surrounding him.

Within a few minutes, the seven of them finished all of Belger's men. They looked down at them. Either they were unconscious or too beaten and battered to get up.

Cody looked at Belger. "Face it, your men suck! You lose!"

"I don't think so," Belger said. That's when everyone noticed movement from one of the armrests of Belger's wheelchair. A small hole appeared from the armrest. It looked like...

"A gun!" Haggar cried. "Everyone get out of the way!"

Everyone began running as Belger began firing away, the small bullets shooting in every direction. They would duck, dodge, and temporarily hide behind fallen tables and desks.

Kairi hid behind one of the desks closest to Rena. He noticed the man who still held the knife in front of her throat.

 _'Guy,'_ Kairi thought. _'This is for you.'_

Kairi stood up and somersaulted forward, dodging the bullets. When he reached a clearance, Kairi jumped up, grabbed the man's face, and twisted his body around taking the man's face with him. After hearing the loud pop of the criminal's neck snapping, Kairi let go and the man fell to the floor. Kairi grabbed the knife that was in his hand and cut the rope that held Rena to her chair. Rena used her free arm to rip the tape off of her mouth. She began gasping for air.

Kairi looked at her. "Are you okay?"

Rena nodded slowly. "Now I am. Thank you Kairi."

Kairi picked her up. "I'm going to get you out of here. We'll go call the police and, hopefully, they'll send a SWAT team as soon as possible."

"What about the others?" Rena asked with worry. "And Guy?"

"Don't worry," Kairi said. "They'll be all right."

As much as Kairi wanted to stay back and help his friends and siblings, he knew that this was the right thing to do. He knew that his older brother would appreciate this. He began running for the side door, which lead to the hallway.

Guy watched as his younger brother carried Rena out of the room.

 _'She's safe!'_ Guy thought with relief. _'Thank you, my brother.'_

That was then he heard a cry not too far from him. Nanase jumped by Guy and landed on her side. She held on to her right leg, blood seeping through her hand.

"Nanase!" Guy cried and crawled over to his sister trying not to lift his head. "Are you all right?"

"I'll be fine," Nanase replied.

Hokuto came over to them. "Nanase!"

"I'm all right," Nanase assured her.

"Get out of here!" Guy cried to his sisters. "Belger's too dangerous! Kairi took Rena outside, meet them there."

"Are you sure?" Nanase asked.

"Yes, and you're hurt any ways. Hokuto, help her out."

"Right," Hokuto said. "Be careful." The sisters then rolled over to the side door and ran out.

Maki hid behind the same table with Cody. Cody turned to Maki. "Get out of here while you can."

"No!" Maki cried. "This man kidnapped my sister and I won't let him get away with it!"

"I know, but she's safe outside now. Kairi took her."

"What?" Maki said and looked over at the chair. Indeed Rena was gone. She turned back to Cody. "But what about you guys?"

"Don't worry!" Cody insisted. "Go! Be with your sister!"

Maki was hesitant at first, but after a minute, she gave in. She dodged out of the way of the bullets and made her way to the side door.

Belger stopped shooting. Guy, Cody, and Haggar peered over their hiding spots and stared at Belger.

"No matter what," Belger said. "You will all lose."

"I don't think so," Haggar said and pointed to his right. Belger turned to his left and noticed the empty chair where his victim was supposed to be sitting.

"Damn it!" he growled and turned back to the three men. "My victim may be gone for now, but know that Mad Gear will still live on, no matter what. She will be with us again."

"And for your own pleasure?" Guy said with even more anger in his eyes. "You're a sick, twisted bastard!"

Belger laughed. "Now it ends... for you three at least."

That's when something popped right out of the wheelchair and landed in the middle of the three of them.

"Crap!" Cody cried out.

But before any of them moved, the small bomb exploded, causing the three of them to fly back into the wall. They landed on the ground with a hard, loud thud. When the smoke cleared, they were all on their stomachs and not moving.

Belger laughed again. "There. I got you three out of my way now."

What he didn't know was that only Cody and Haggar were unconscious. Guy slowly opened his eyes. He felt the pain from the explosion taking over his body, the heat in the air burning on his skin, and the dust entering his wounds, touching his sensitive nerves, which made it feel like a thousand knives stabbing through him.

 _'He...he took us down with one bomb!'_ Guy thought. He felt too weak to get up. He was starting to lose hope in winning this battle.

\---

Maki ran outside where a crowd of people surrounded the Mad Gear hideout. The police and the SWAT team were in position, but there were no orders yet.

Maki made her way over to her friends where her sister Rena stood. Rena spotted her running towards them.

"Maki!" Rena cried out.

"Rena!"

The sisters ran over to each other and immediately embraced. Tears of joy poured out of both girls' eyes. They stayed like this for a minute before they pulled back.

"What did they do to you?" Maki asked.

"The worse they did was knock me out when they first took me," Rena replied. "They were going to do more," she smiled. "But then you guys came."

Rena looked up at the building. She knew that Guy was still in there with Cody and Haggar fighting off Belger.

 _'Please be okay,'_ she thought with worry.

\---

Guy felt like giving up. He believed there was no way that he would beat Belger. Every time he would go near him, a weapon would come out causing him to steer back.

But then Rena came to his mind. He didn't know exactly what Mad Gear had done to her but whatever it was, he didn't want it to happen to her again, or worse.

Determination began to consume him.

 _'I can't let them get away with it!'_ Guy thought. _'If I don't take down Belger, Mad Gear will commit more crimes and kidnap more innocent people. They would even kidnap Rena again!'_

That was one thing he wouldn't let happen, not ever again.

He slowly began to get up, using the wall to support himself. Belger sat there in shock.

"But..." Belger stuttered. "That bomb was supposed to kill you!"

"Apparently, it didn't" Guy growled. "Now I'm going to finish you off."

Belger sneered with amusement. "Try me." The gun came out again and he began shooting. Guy used all of the strength that was left in him and dodged out of his way of the bullets. He began going towards Belger.

Belger tried to back away as the Bushin warrior ran towards him, but he was too slow. Guy jumped up and smashed his heel into the armrest breaking the gun. Sparks surrounded the weapon.

"NO!" Belger cried out. He growled at Guy. "You'll pay for that!"

Guy narrowed his eyes. He ran a few more feet closer. "This is for all of the crimes you've committed and for all of the innocent victims of Metro City!"

Guy jumped up and kicked Belger in the chest. Guy only wanted to give me a lesson before having him put behind bars, but then he noticed the wheelchair rolling quickly backwards towards the window.

 _'NO!'_ Guy thought and ran over to Belger, but it was too late. The wheelchair smashed through the window, taking Belger with it. Guy watched helplessly as Belger fell one hundred stories down to his death. He could hear his scream full of fear. The crowd below ran out of the way. When Belger was close to the ground, Guy turned away, not wanting to watch the impact. Even from high above, he heard wheelchair crashing into the pavement. Guy dared himself to look down again. The wheelchair was in pieces. Next to it was Belger, all of his bones broken and blood seeping into the sidewalk.

 _'He's dead,'_ Guy thought with a sigh. He wanted Belger brought to jail alive and to suffer for all of his terrible actions. Instead, Guy ended up killing him and there was nothing he could do.

Then, he smiled to himself. The events didn't matter to him anymore. All that mattered now was that Rena was safe from the hands of Mad Gear.

That's when heard two painful groans from behind him. He turned around and saw Cody and Haggar getting up.

Haggar rubbed his head. "What happened?" he asked.

Guy sighed again. "Belger's dead. Rena and Jessica are safe now."

Haggar smiled as he thought about his daughter.

Guy walked over to the two and helped them up. The two supported themselves on Guy.

"When I get home," Cody said. "I'm going to have a bottle of Heineken and then go to sleep."

"Why am I not surprised that you said that?" Guy asked.

The three of them laughed a little.

"Let's go," Haggar insisted.

The three of them began walking out of the room.

\---

Rena's eyes were wide opened at the sight of Belger's dead body lying on the pavement across the street from her. Although she felt a little bad that Belger died the way he did, she knew that it was a sign that Mad Gear's reign was finally over.

Then, she heard cheering from across the street. She smiled, tears of joy filling up in her eyes. She knew that Guy, Cody, and Haggar came out safe.

She began pushing her way through the crowd. Maki watched her by a TV store with the others.

"Well," said Kairi. "It's over. Belger's dead and Rena and Jessica are safe."

"And just in time for the holidays!" Hokuto cried. That's when they noticed snow falling down on to the streets.

"Good call," said Nanase with a smile.

Rena kept pushing people out of the way. She made her way across the street, where news reporters surrounded the three men.

It was Cody who spotted Rena just behind the cameramen and the reporters.

"Guy," he said with a grin. "You can let go of us. There's someone waiting for you."

Guy looked where Cody was looking. Emotions filled his heart as he spotted her.

"Rena!" he cried out. Although he still felt weak, he still managed to push through the cameramen and reporters.

"Guy!" Rena shouted. The tears started to pour out of her eyes. As soon as they were within arm's reach, they threw their arms around one another tightly, holding each other close. Rena buried her face into Guy's shoulder and began sobbing.

Guy was surprised that he was tearing up as well, but he managed to hold him back. He began kissing her neck and the side of her head as the cameramen pointed their cameras at them. Then, he buried his head into her shoulder and closed his eyes. He was thankful that Rena was alive and safe from harm.

Maki looked over at the TV shore. She noticed the footage on the TV's of Guy and Rena holding each other. She smiled.

"Look everyone!" Maki cried to her friends. Kairi, Hokuto, and Nanase turned around.

"Awe!" Nanase said feeling her own tears welling up. She was happy that Rena was safe and reunited with Guy.

Then, Guy moved his head back to face Rena. He wiped the tears from her face. Rena smiled. "I thought I would never see you again."

Guy smiled back. "But I'm here now." He touched her face and said, "Rena... I love you."

Rena gasped a little. More emotions filled her heart and more tears fell out of her eyes as she heard those three words. She smiled more. "I love you, too."

They leaned in and shared what was probably the best kiss they've ever shared. They didn't care about the reporters, cameramen, and the witnesses around them. All that mattered that that they were finally united.

Maki, Kairi, Hokuto, and Nanase had witnessed the whole thing on the TV.

"Woo hoo!" Hokuto cried with tears falling down her face. "They love each other!"

After a minute of their passionate kiss, Guy and Rena pulled apart to catch their breaths. Guy stroked her black hair. "Now there's only one thing left to do."

"Go home and get ready for Christmas," Rena replied with a smile.


	22. Chapter 22

_Christmas Day_

Music played and food was served at the dojo's Christmas party. All of the trainers, their trainees, friends, and family gathered together to celebrate the holiday.

Haggar attended the party as well along with Jessica. He stood on a bench and whistled, getting everyone's attention.

"First off," Haggar said. "I've been to many parties and gatherings before, but I must say that this is the best party I've ever gone to. That's probably because I didn't have to wear a suit this time."

Everyone lightly laughed. Haggar looked back at his daughter, who was with Cody, Guy, Rena, Kairi, Kyle, Maki, Hokuto, and Nanase. He smiled and said, "I also have a gift for the citizens of Metro City. Since the death of Belger, the headmaster of Mad Gear, the gang have crumbled to their knees and are no longer a threat to our city."

Everyone cheered as their heard the good news from the mayor. "I would like to thank the ones who have done that and saved my baby girl's life. Cody, Guy, Kairi, Maki, Kyle, Hokuto, and Nanase... thank you."

Guy smiled at Haggar. "And thank you helping me save the love of my life."

The room cheered once again as Haggar said thanks. He got off the seat and walked over to Jessica and the others. "Really, thank you."

"No problem," said Kairi. "And you've done the same for my brother."

"Wow," said Kyle. "So many thanks in one week since we saved the girls."

"Well," said Nanase. "Not only did we finally throw Mad Gear out of their operations, but we've also saved two lives."

"And I will make sure that this city will be safe from future criminals," Haggar promised.

"Well, it's all behind us now," replied Cody. "Let's celebrate the holidays."

That's when Dean Martin's "Let It Snow' started to play on the CD player.

Cody lit up. "Hey! It's my favorite song!" Suddenly, Cody began singing and trying to sound like Dean Martin.

Immediately, everyone covered their ears, even Jessica!

"AHH!" cried Kairi. "Make it stop!"

"He did this four weeks ago!" cried Kyle.

"I love holiday songs, but not like this," Guy said. He smacked Cody in the back of his head, making him stop.

"OWE!" Cody shouted. "What was that for?"

"For singing horribly," said Nanase.

"And imitating the great Dean Martin," said Guy.

Cody rubbed his face. "Well, it is Christmas, what do you want me to do?"

"Cody!" Jessica cried. She pointed to one of the doors. Above it was the mistletoe.

"Sweet!" Cody cried. He grabbed Jessica's hand, ran under the mistletoe, and began kissing.

"Don't be too frisky now!" Haggar said, almost warning him. Cody replied with a thumb's up.

Guy and Rena turned to each other and smiled.

"I told you I'd be home in time for Christmas," Guy said.

Rena wrapped her arms around her. "I knew you would. And thank you, not just for saving my life, but also for being a great person to me. I don't think there is any man out there who's like you."

Guy smiled more, feeling flattered by the comment. "You're welcome." He placed his forehead onto hers. "And I don't know where I would be without you."

"Me neither," Rena answered. Guy leaned in more and pressed his lips against hers. They shared a kiss for a brief moment before pulling away.

"I love you," Guy said stroking her hair.

"I love you too."

They held each other close as everyone around them shared laughter and good cheer. Rena couldn't help but stare into the eyes of her lover Guy, the hero of Metro City.

**The End**


End file.
